m- 


b= 


o 

Z^-5 


Exodus,  Moses 

and  the 

Decalogue  Legislation. 


The  Central  Doctrine  and  Regulative 
Organum  of  Mosaism. 

Substantiating  the  Biblical  Legislation,  civil,  political,  agra- 
rian;  and   its  Humanity,  Benevolence   and   Charity 
Laws ;   Universal  Import  and  Analysis  of  the  Ten 
Commandments  in  parallel  with  other  Codes ; 
demonstrating   prophetic   Monotheism 
and    its     Ethics    as    the    unique 
basis   for   civilized   society. 


By  MAURICE  FLUEGEL. 
Baltimore,  U.  S.  A. 

Author  of:  Religious  Rites  and  Aspects;  Biblical  Legislation; 
Humanity,  Benevolence  and  Charity  Laws  (of  the  Pentateuch  and 
Talmud) ;  Messiah  Ideals,  Vol.  I,  Jesus  of  Nazareth;  Vol.  II,  Paul  and 
New  Testament;  Mohammed  and  Qoran;  Zend-Avesta  and  Parseeism, 
Brahmanism  and  Buddhism;  Israel  the  Biblical  People;  Philosophy, 
Qabbala  and  Vedanta;  etc;  works  published. 


Copyright  secured  by  the  Author,   Maurice  Fluegel,  1910. 

Publishers :  M.  Fluegel  Co.,   Baltimore,  Md.,  U.  S.  A. 


The  Author's  Works  to  be  Published: 


The  Biblical  Holidays  and  their  import  for  civilization ; 

The  Mosaic  Genesis,  paralleled  with  other  cosmogonies; 

The  Biblical  Patriarchs,  as  a  historical  aera; 

The  Mosaic  State  and  Church,  Leznticus; 

Religious  Rites  and  Aspects;  Credo,  Principles,  Sanitary  Laws. 

II.    Edition,  largely  increased. 

The  IV.  Book  of  Mosis. 

The  V.  Book  of  Mosis. 

These  seven  Manuscript-Volumes  and  the  three  already  pub- 
lished, exhaustively  treat  of  the  Pentateuch,  Bible,  Talmud, 
and  Religion  generally,  in  their  world-historic  bearings. 

Philosophy  Vol.  II;  Zohar,  Thora  and  Science; 

The  Second  Judaean  Commonzvealth    and  Maccabean  War. 

Each  of  these  volumes  of  about  300  octavo  pages. 

"Essays  and  Lectures,"  historical,  political,  theological  and  liter- 
ary ;  as  also : 

Israel's  Battles  for  Freedom  and  Renaissance,  "Milhamoth-Ihvh," 
are  unfinished. 


Table  of  Contents 


The  leading  themes  of  the  volume  are : 
I.     Moses,  the  Liberator  from  Egyptian  bondage ; 
II.     The  Ten  Commandments,  in  their  all-sided  bearings,  com- 
pared with  other  codes ; 
III.     The  Mosaic  Sanctuary  and  worship. 

Study  I.  Page 

"■'  Moses  the  Liberator — Moses  and  Pharoah 5 

Prophecy   and   Revelation 7 

^•Advent  of  the  Liberator 9 

Mosis'  Environments  and  Education 12 

Mosis'  Flight,  the  crisis 16 

Horeb,   Sinai,  Arabian  Desert 18" 

The  Burning   Bush ^ .._... 21 

Israel's  Labors — Great  Thoughts  Never  Die 22 

•  Medrashim  on  Moses 25-30 

Study  II. 

Moses,  the  Prophets  and  their  mission — Israel's  career 31 

Reply  and  Refutation — Religious,  Social  and  Political  outlook 35 

Is  Israel  true  to  his  task  ? 41 

JMission  of  Christianity ,\ ,  43 

Mission   of  Mohammedanism 47 

The  Biblical  Teachings ]  49 

The  Hague  Peace  Arbitration  and  the  Prophets 51 

Charles  Voysey  on  the  Mission  of  the  Jews 56 

.J'ractical  Results  of  the  Exodus,  Survey  of  Egypt 59 

-History   Corroborating .' 67 

Moses  faithful  to  the  living  and  the  dead 69 

Moses  and  the  Two  Arks — American  Israel — Bright  Sides 71 

iWoman  to  assist 82 

^  Study  III. 

•  The  Ten  Commandments — Introduction — Kingdom  of  priests 86 

Sinai's  Civilization— Wherefore  Israel?  Pre-  and  Post-Sinai 89 

The  Coronation  formula 94 

Recapitulation  and  summary 96 

•  Genesis  of  the  Decalogue 100 

Arabia  and  Sinai 101' 

•  Decalogue  Text  and  Sense.     I— V  Commandments 104 

•  Commandments  VI — X.     Manifold  Stealings — Agadas  on  that 107 

4  Considerations,  Once  and  Now 118 

Study  IV. 

The  One  God  of  the  Decalogue 12i 

Divine  Existence — Common-Sense  Proof — Design  in  Nature 123 

Science  and  the  God-conception.     Biblical  divine  names 126 

God  and  Creation 129 

Cause  of  Evil.     R.  Aqiba  and  Vedanta 130 

Nebular  Theory  and  Napoleon  Bonaparte 132 

Psalmist,  Job,  Kant,  Herbert  Spencer  on  that 134 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS— Continued. 

Page 

Summing    up 135 

Mosaic  God-idea  contrasted  with  ottier  systems 136 

Dualism — Unity  and   Trinity — Pantheism — Spinoza 137 

——"Moses,  Fichte,  Spinoza,  Hegel,  Skepticism — God  and  Nature 144 

Polytheism  and  its  polity  contrasted  with  Pentateuch 147 

The  Law  of  hcreidity  and  entail 153 

Biblical  optimism — the  Rabbis  on  that 156 

V   History  shows  free-will 160 

///.  Commandment — The  Oath 162 

Study  V. 

fhe  Sabbath  of  the  Decalogue 165 

Sabbath  and  its  humanitarian  influences 168 

Thoughts  on  the  Sabbath 171 

Sabbath   in   America 174 

Sabbath  or  any  other  day?     Sunday  and  practical  men 177 

Sunday  the  Symbol  of  Trinity — Sabbath  and  Sunday  contrasted 182 

American  Jews  consider!      The  practical  side 185 

Theoretical  men  and  Sunday.     Talmudical  aspects 188 

Reverse  sides  of  the  problem 194 

Appeal  for  the  Sabbath 196 

Stiidy  VI. 

Filial  Piety  and  Reverence 20W 

The  Jewish  Family — Jules  Simon  on  Americanism 202 

Reverence   for  Country — Reverence   for   Judaism 206 

Reverence  for  Synagogue — Reverence  for  Education 210 

Reverence  for  God  and  Virtue.     The  several  Reverences 213 

Study  VII. 

Decalogue,  Judaism  and  Christianity 217 

Harmony  and  Universality  of  the  Decalogue 218 

The  Banner-Bearer  and  Oriflamme — Israel's  future 222 

Judaism  and  Christianity,  their  differences 227 

The  Vatican  Syllabus  of  1870 228 

Study  VIII. 

Israel,  Champion  of  the  Decalogue ,. 231 

Battles  of  Ihvh— Jerusalem  and  Rome— Tacitus  on  it 234 

Decalogue  and  Polytheism 239 

Islam  and  the  Jews — The  Crusades,  Spain 242 

West  Europe — Poland — Marranos — The  Ghetto 246 

Nineteenth  and  Twentieth  Century 251 

America  and  New  Judaea — Closing  Remarks 254 

United  States  and  the  Decalogue 261 

Study  IX. 

The  Mosaic  Sanctuary   or    Tabernacle 264 

Need  of  such 266 

Import  of  Tabernacle  and  Temple 271 

Once  and  Now.     Temple  and  Synagogue ^'6 

The  holy  vessels  of  the  Tabernacle 278 

Worship  and  Sacrifical  Cult ^8^5 

Table  of  Shrewbread.     The  Candelabrum.     The  Altars 284 

The  Holy  Ark — Kapporeth,  Cherubim  form — Outfit 291 

Exodus  Trilogy.     Survey  of  the  volume.  The  Code 296 

V  Personal  freedom.    Free  soil.     Equality.    Fraternity.     End 300-308 

^  Errata    309 


Exodus,  Moses  and  the  Decalogue 


study  /.—MOSES  THE  LIBERATOR. 

Generally  this  second  Book  of  Moses  is  termed:  Ve-ala- 
Shemoth,  the  Hebrew  opening  words  of  the  Book.  In  the  vul- 
gate  it  is  termed:  Exodus,  the  going  forth,  the  issue  of  the 
Israelites  from  Egypt. ^ 

Into  that  land  they  had  immigrated  under  Jacob  and  Joseph 
and  remained,  according  to  the  Bible,  430  years;  but  according 
to  the  rabbinical  computation,  those  430  years  of  migrations 
began  with  Abraham,  whilst  the  sojourn  proper  in  Egypt,  was 
only  of  215  years,  encompassing  four  generations.^  The  book 
is  devoted  to  the  narrative  of  the  Benai-Israel,  their  issue  from 
the  Egyptian  country  and  bondage,  their  start  as  a  nation,  the 
reception  of  the  Law,  their  sojourn  in  the  wilderness  and  erection 
of  a  portative  Temple,  the  Tabernacle,  a  unique  sanctuary,  repre- 
senting their  oneness  in  nationality,  cult  and  monotheism. 

The  first  chapters  of  Exodus  narrate  the  history  of  the 
redemption  of  Israel  and  the  mission  of  Moses.  As  Abraham 
began  a  new  aera  of  civilization,  establishing  his  own  family  as 
its  nucleus  and  basis,  as  with  Jacob  this  family  grew  into  a 
tribe  propagating  that  civilization,  even  so  with  Moses,  the 
tribe  expanded  into  a  nation,  with  the  task  of  developing  that 
civilization  of  monotheism,  freedom  and  labor  to  its  full  growth. 

PHARAOH  AND  xMOSES,  CONSERVATISM  AND  PROGRESS. 

The  first  chapters  of  this  book  produce  before  our  eyes  two 
leading  characters,  Moses  and  Pharaoh.  They  represent  the  two 
great  forces  of  human  society,  the  two  phases  of  our  human 
nature.  Two  powers  are  ever  in  contention  in  our  social  world, 
in  eternal  antagonism,  yet  ever  working  in  harmony  for  the 
preservation  of  the  race  and  for  its  unfolding,  its  stability  on  one 
hand,  and  its  gradual,  cautious  advance,  on  the  other  hand. 
These  two  forces  are  the  principles  of  Conservatism  and  of  Pro- 
gress, They  are  the  two  pillars,  the  "Joachim  and  Boas,"  the 
anchor  and  the  sails  of  the  social  ship;  the  two  faces  of  the 

2     IV  M.,  xvl.,  1.     Four  generations,  Qorah,  son  Izhar,  son  Kehath, 
son  Levi. 


6  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

Janus-statue,  one  turned  backward,  one  forwards,  one  pointing  to 
the  past  and  the  other  to  the  future;  the  two  poles  of  time,  the 
present  and  stabiHty,  the  future  and  advance.  Both  are  urgently 
and  indispensably  necessary;  they  are  each  other's  complement; 
without  either,  human  society  would  soon  collapse;  they  are  the 
centripetal  and  centrifugal  forces  of  the  social  body.  The  one 
insures  stability,  safety,  solidity;  the  other  secures  life,  move- 
ment, advance,  improvement.  Without  Conservatism  the  state  is 
ever  threatened  with  unrest,  precipitate  change,  revolution, 
shattering  and  sudden  destruction ;  without  Progress,  the  State  is 
menaced  with  stagnation,  rottenness  and  collapse.  Every  age 
has  its  representation  of  these  two  supreme  social  forces,  this 
alluded-to  double-faced  Janus-statue  looking  forwards  and  back- 
wards. They  are  incarnated  in  two  such  leading  personal  expo- 
nents. No  doubt,  they  are  social  forces,  but  personified  and 
concrete  in  these  leaders.  Four  centuries  before  the  Exodus, 
they  were  by  Nimrod  and  Abraham,  later  by  Esau  and  Israel. 
They  are  now  in  Exodus,  by  Pharaoh  and  Moses.  Moses  is  the 
model  of  those  grand  men  of  advance,  of  movement,  of  the  future ; 
of  those  extraordinary  men  whom  history  produces  but  at  great 
intervals,  as  marking  stones  and  mile-posts  of  new  aeras,  of 
great  political  and  ethical  evolutions.  Pharaoh  is  the  pattern  of 
the  opposite  principle,  stability.  He  represents  the  old  and 
trite,  the  vulgar  and  past,  the  safe  side.  Moses  appears  to  be 
the  weaker  party,  but  his  is,  surely,  the  future.  To  Pharaoh  the 
world  seems  to  belong;  he  is  legitimate,  apparently,  his  is  the 
present  and  the  past,  but  his  is  not  the  future.  Moses  is  moved 
by  the  diviner  spirit,  by  man's  nobler  nature,  by  the  eternal 
instinct  of  amelioration,  the  inherent  right  of  the  masses  against 
the  classes,  their  betterment  against  the  historical  right  or  privi- 
lege, by  universal  improvement  against  the  aristocratic  minority, 
by  the  genius  of  revolution  against  class  pretensions ;  he  is  the 
aggrandized  Mirabeau,  the  Lasker,  the  Virchow  of  his  time,  if 
comparison  limps  not.  Pharaoh,  on  the  contrary,  is  the  Metternich, 
Bourbon  or  Ignatieff  of  his.  He  represents  the  guild,  the  philis- 
tinism,  the  legitimacy,  the  cast-iron  class-legality  of  his  epoch. 
He  knows  no  inherent  justice,  no  inborn  equity,  no  common  sense 
fairness;  he  knows  the  reigning  statute.  He  represents  Law, 
not  right,  reason—prophecy. 


PHARAOH  AND  MOSES.  7 

A  recent  thinker  states  (Nietzsche,  in  "Menschliches")  :  There 
is  no  right  in  nature,  nothing  but  force.  The  forces  clash  and 
contend  for  mastery,  so  war  is  the  necessary  result.  Then  the 
belligerents  compromise  and  stipulate  terms  of  peace.  These  are 
the  elements  of  right.  Without  war  and  treaty  there  exists  no 
right.  In  the  abstract  it  is  a  mere  conventional  notion,  coined  by 
the  hungry  masses.  This  sad  view  underlies  all  ancient  polythe- 
ism. Prophetism,  the  Bible  is  its  very  opposite  pole,  and  modern 
civilization  is  deeply  moored  in  that  principle :  Right  and  reason, 
not  force  and  selfishness.  Ancient  Babylon,  Athens,  Rome  stood 
on  force  and  egoism.  Jerusalem,  Prophetism,  Bible  with  Chris- 
tianity and  Mohammedanism  are  based  on  God,  Right  and  Rea- 
son. Israel's  heroic  battles  for  this  higher  platform  saved  it  for 
mankind.  And  this  is  his  great  merit  for  civilization. 
PROPHECY  AND  REVELATION. 

The  leading  sentence  of  our  Book  is  again  and  again^ :  "God 
spake  to  Moses."  This  is  the  motto.  God  spake  to  Moses, 
in  deed  and  in  fact.  Such  a  grand,  holy  Moses-nature  is  ever 
the  resounding  oracle  of  the  Deity.  The  noble,  ethical,  social, 
spiritual  truths  are  revealed  to  him  face  to  face^,  as  naturally 
and  plainly  as  are  to  us,  usual  people,  the  bright  sky  and  its 
constellations. 

Is  this  a  miraculous  power,  lost  to  us  moderns?  Was  there 
prophecy?  Was  there  genius?  Or  patriotism?  Was  there  a 
vision,  or  ecstacy,  or  a  symbol?  Who  can  determine,  assert? 
May  they  not  be  all  identified  in  one?  Who  has  measured  the 
relation,  the  heights  and  depths  of  human  mind  and  of  divine 
mind?  Surely  God  has  no  tongue  and  no  lips.  He  inspires  man 
intellectually — how  He  inspires?  is  diversely  answered  by  re- 
ligious philosophy.  Who  can  tell  where  is  the  focus,  their  point 
of  contact  ?  The  divine  rays  ever  fill  the  universe,  but  how  shall 
man  make  ready  to  receive  them  ?  Maimonides  says :  "The 
human  species  has  some  extraordinary  exemplars  best  fitted  for 
the  rational  soul,  and  such  an  extraordinary  human  intellect,  ad- 
hering fixedly  to  the  divine  Intellectus  Activus,  obtains  an  addi- 
tional large  emanation  which  constitutes  prophecy."^     In  such  a 


II  Moses  Etc.nK>D  ^x  n'^  los'i  ,n3*T'i  ^ 

3  This  is  approximately  liis  modest  opinion,  frequently  uttered  as 
teacher  and  thinker,  in  Yad  and  Guide. 


8  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

Moses-mind  the  divine  word  is  ever  audible,  vehemently  sound- 
ing- forth  its  behests  and  admonitions.  To  such  a  nature  it 
ordains,  in  a  whisper  or  a  shout:  Arise,i  early  in  the  morning, 
Moses,  rise  from  the  soft  pillow  of  the  past  and  the  vulgar, 
rise  and  go  to  meet  Pharaoh,  (the  old  time  genius  and  repre- 
sentative), and  tell  him:  "Thus  speaketh  Ihvh:  Send 
forth  My  people  that  they  may  worship  Me." — God,  the  Allgood, 
the  active,  driving  Mind  behind  nature,  the  life  principle,  the 
propelling  Power  of  history,  calls :  Let  My  people  go 
free  that  they  may  serve  Me,  for  they  are  My  servants,  not 
the  servants  of  servants.^ — "God  spake  to  Moses."  In  such  noble 
natures  the  divine  voice  is  ever  resounding.  They  are  the 
live-temple  of  the  Divine,  its  living  oracle.  They  are  so  sympa- 
thetic, so  public  spirited,  their  soul  is  so  clear,  mirroring  so 
accurately  the  events  of  history,  their  ear  is  so  delicately  catching 
up  the  sounds  of  suffering  humanity  that  they  necessarily  be- 
come their  interpreters,  in  them  Deity  continually  speaks.  They 
are  an  eternal  vehicle  of  revelation,  so  sensitive  that  every  world- 
event  strikes  them  and  produces  its  powerful  echo.  Mosis' 
sympathetic  nature  was  a  sort  of  aeols'  harp.  Every  historical 
air-current  passed  through  its  delicate  strings,  moved  and 
thrilled  them  and  produced  harmonious  tones,  jubilant  or  mourn- 
ful, corresponding  to  the  surrounding  events.  Such  was  that 
Moses-nature,  ever  alert  to  the  woe  and  weal  of  his  brethren. 
Hence  the  refrain:    "God  spake  to  Moses." 

1  II  M.,  viii.    Rise  early  in  the  morning. 
2    They  are  my  servants,  not  serfs  to  serfs.     Rashi  and  Rabbis,  ad 
locum. 

Maimonides'  Yad  and  Guide,  commenting  to  Mishnayoth,  Sanhedrin, 
on  the  dogmas,  says,  page  127  b: 

cbsK'n  miv  niSspD  }nB>  ny  ...did^^K'I  ni:5iyo  nn»o  n^yat:  ^byn 

nxujn  N^n  in  .1222  niTvx 

Literally  and  fully  translated:  The  sixth  principle  is:  Prophecy,  viz.: 
We  must  know  that  the  human  species  contains  a  few  individuals 
naturally  endowed  with  great  virtues  and  perfections,  and  their  minds 
are  so  well  constituted  that  they  do  the  more  perfectly  obtain  the 
intellectual  impress  and  influence.  When,  thereupon,  this  human  in- 
telligence fixes  itself  adheringly  to  the  (divine)  Intellectus  Activus 
it  obtains  a  most  important  emanation  (of  inspiration)..  .These  are 
the  prophets  and  this  is  prophecy  and  its  substance.  To  enlarge  upon 
this  principle  and  prove  it  is  not  our  intention  here,  and  would  lead 
us  away  from  our  theme... The  Torah  testifies  to  it  clearly." 


PROPHECY  AND  REVELATION.  9 

The  opposite  pole  is  Pharaoh.  He  too  remained  true  to  his 
nature,  the  eternal  type  of  vulgarity,  of  historical  views  and 
habits,  blind  prejudice  for  the  old,  ever  against  the  new.  To 
him  the  divine  behest  goes  forth :  "Let  My  people  go  that  they 
may  serve  Me."  But  he  is  slow  to  realize  the  new  time.  Hence : 
"His  heart  holds  on,"  he  refuses  to  listen;  "he  did  not  let  the 
people  go,"  we  read  again  and  again.  See  the  stupid  tough- 
ness, the  holding  on  to  the  past,  the  blind  adherence,  obstinately 
clinging  to  the  old  ways.  That  is  political  conservatism.  It  is 
called  legitimacy,  love  of  order.  One  rules  by  divine  grace — 
not  in  the  interest  of  the  people.  There  is  an  aristocracy — his- 
torical, not  natural,  not  of  the  really  best.  There  reigns  the 
Law — not  identical  with  real  justice.  There  is  an  accumulation 
of  customs  and  privileges  piled  up,  high  and  huge  as  the  tower  of 
Babel — "but  there  is  never  the  question  of  the  rights  born  with 
us."  There  is  a  love  of  order — without  love  and  without  order, 
yea,  upholding  disorder;  Laws  accumulating  as  the  cancer,  from 
generation  to  generation ;  in  the  interests  of  the  dynasts  and  the 
classes,  against  the  masses  of  the  people.  Pharaoh  is  its  represen- 
tative. 

Such  a  stupid  conservatism  we  meet  in  all  the  social  phases 
and  strata,  in  private  and  in  public,  at  home,  church  and  State ;  in 
eating  and  drinking,  in  wakefulness  or  asleep ;  in  the  market  and 
the  caucus.  People  do  what  they  have  been  doing,  not  because 
it  is  good  and  wise,  but  because  it  is  a  habit.  An  old  proverb  says : 
"Having  acted  wrongly  and  repeated  the  wrong,  it  appears  an 
established  right."i  All  that  is  personified  in  Pharaoh,  the  em- 
bodiment of  blind  conservatism  and  stability.  Moses  calls  :  Thus 
speaks  Ihvh,  "Let  My  people  go,  that  they  may  serve  Me !"  In 
vain,  Pharaoh  insists  and  refuses :  "I  know  not  that  hypothesis !" 

ADVENT  OF  THE  LIBERATOR. 

Wonderful  and  inspiring,  tragic  and  yet  cheering,  is  the  his- 
tory of  the  birth  and  the  rise  of  providential  men.  It  is  sublime 
and  extraordinary,  but  it  is  in  every  way  natural.  Surprising 
and  edifying  are  the  methods  of  Supreme  Intelligence  about  the 
destiny  of  mankind,  in  mysterious  meanderings,  winding  and 
tortuous.  As  an  impetuous  mountain  torrent  rushes  its  stormy 
waves,  through  deep  ravines,  rocks  and  clefts,  straits  and  sub- 
terraneous beds  until  at  last  it  reappears  a  grand,  majestic,  vast 


10  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

stream,  sudden  as  by  enchantment,  nevertheless,  natural,  going 
from  cause  to  effect,  every  water-drop  it  carries  is  well  accounted 
for,  the  outcome  of  the  manifold  sources;  even  so  are  the  ways 
and  means  of  Providence  in  the  mysterious  concatenations  and 
meanderings  of  world  history.  They  are  wonderful  and  myste- 
rious, but  ever  rigidly  natural,  never  infringing  upon  the  im- 
mutable, eternal,  divine  laws,  primordially  laid  down  by  the  Great 
Architect  of  the  universe.  Even  so  is  the  history  of  the  birth, 
the  rise,  the  life  and  the  mission  of  Moses  to  Israel.  Read  the 
sagas  about  the  founders,  not  only  of  antique  India,  Assyria, 
Akkad  or  Babylon,  but  even  of  later  Rome,  Athens  or  Carthage, 
and  see  what  crude  and  rude  myths  and  marvels  are  there 
brought  forward  to  illustrate  their  heroes !  The  more  miracle, 
the  greater  the  hero !  the  more  the  natural  laws  are  set  aside,  the 
greater  appeared  the  leader.  Nothing  of  the  kind  you  find 
around  the  birth,  rise  and  mission  of  Moses.  They  are  extra- 
ordinary, but  not  encroaching  upon  the  eternal  laws  of  God, 
deeply  laid  down  in  the  workings  of  the  universe.  This  is  one 
of  the  salient  points  of  the  Hebraic  sacred  Scriptures.  Their 
heroes  are  men,  historic  beings,  acting  within  the  bounds  of  our 
known  natural  laws.  They  are  extraordinary,  fit  causes  of 
extraordinary  effects. 

Now  let  us  consider :  What  is  the  background  to  the  Book  of 
Exodus  and  the  Mosaic  mission?  Long  before  the  advent  of 
Moses  and  the  Benai-Israel  in  Mizraim,  that  country  had  been 
invaded  and  gradually  conquered  by  the  Semitic  Hyksos.i 
shepherd  tribes  from  neighboring  Arabia  and  Khanaan.  Lower 
Egypt,  around  the  several  branches  of  the  Nile,  was  occupied  and 
personally  ruled  by  their  kings,  whilst  upper-Egypt,  was  left 
as  yet  to  the  native  lords,  recognizing  the  suzerainty  of  the 
foreign-born  Hyksos  princes.  Most  naturally  these  were  ever 
apprehensive  of  the  native  populations  and  their  yet  reigning 
sub-kings ;  cunningly  divided  and  abetted  against  each  other  by 
the  crafty  polity  of  the  Hyksos  sovereign,  they  were,  neverthe- 
less, ever  ready  to  unite  against  the  foreign  invaders.  It  was 
ever  the  Hyksos'  policy  to  call  from  Arabia  and  Khanaan  as 
many  countrymen  as  possible,  in  order  to  strengthen  their  own 
ranks  against  any  possible  rising  of  the  natives.     Under  such  a 


iSee  Messiah  Ideal,  Vol.  I,  page  124.    Hyksos. 


ADVENT    OF    THE    LIBERATOR.  n 

Hyksos-Pharaoh,  Joseph  had  arrived  in  Egypt,  as  a  slave,  and 
sold  to  Potiphar,  the  head  of  the  shepherd  king's  bodyguard. 
Under  such  circumstances  Joseph  had,  most  naturally,  suc- 
ceeded in  gaining  the  favor  of  the  courtiers,  Hyksos,  too,  as  well 
as  of  the  king  himself.  Under  such,  he  had  become  one  of  the 
provincial  governors,  had  occasion  to  provide  for  the  country 
during  a  famine,  and  thus  succeeded  to  serve  well  his  foreign 
Hyksos  master,  and  at  the  same  time  the  native  people.  During 
that  famine  he  continued  to  acquire  the  entire  territory  for  the 
Pharaoh,  while  he  saved  the  population  from  starvation.  He 
then  acquired  the  consent  of  the  king  to  settle  his  own  tribe, 
the  Benai-Israel,  on  the  confines  of  Egypt  and  Arabia,  in 
"Goshen,"  the  king  finding  in  him  a  useful  and  politic  minister, 
and  in  his  tribe  faithful  allies,  countrymen  and  fellow-shepherds, 
holding  the  same  position  and  interests  as  himself,  towards  the 
aboriginal  population.  But  a  new  situation  arrived;  the  native 
princes  and  the  native  people  gradually  made  common  cause  and 
the  Hyksos  conquerers  were  driven  out  of  the  country.  This 
was  a  long  and  wearisome  undertaking.  Now  as  the  Benai- 
Israel  were  not  really  identical  with  the  Hyksos,  as  they  had 
not  come  as  conqurers  into  the  land,  as  their  chieftain,  Joseph, 
had  saved  the  land  during  a  famine,  and  generally  had  left  a 
patriotic  and  good  record  of  his  government,  so  his  tribe  was 
allowed  to  stay  in  the  country,  after  the  Hyksos  had  been  ex- 
pelled. But  some  time  after  this  expulsion,  a  change  of  feeling 
came  on.  We  read  (Exodus  i :  8)  :  And  there  arose  a  new  King 
(viz. :  a  new,  native  dynasty)  who  did  not  know  Joseph,  and  he 
addressed  his  fellow-native  counsellors  :  "Behold  the  foreign  Benai- 
Israel  are  becoming  more  numerous  and  powerful  than  we.  Take 
care,  we  must  be  politic,  for  they  will  go  on  ever  increasing,  and 
should  war  (with  the  close-by  hovering  Hyksos)  break  out,  then 
they  may  side  with  our  enemies,  join  in  the  war  against  us  and 
leave  the  land."  (II  M.  I.  10).  So  a  policy  of  repression,  op- 
pression and  systematic  destruction  was  inaugurated,  culminat- 
ing in  conspiring  against  the  unborn  generations,  and  drowning 
every  male-child  of  the  doomed  foreign  race — the  policy  of  the 
Anti-Semites  of  today,  as  of  the  Pharaohs  of  the  3,500  years  ago. 
Under  such  pressing,  ominous  circumstances,  the  advent 
of  Moses  took  place:  Two  peoples,  close-by,  are  here  in  array 
against  each  other:   The  one  is  a  formidable  majority,  under  its 


12  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

own  leaders,  with  all  the  resources  of  centralized  power,  au- 
thority, government,  armies,  statescraft,  proud  of  its  indigenous 
nationality  and  its  recent  victory  over  the  Shepherd  invaders. 
It  conspires  against  the  other  alien  clan,  apprehensive  of 
the  growing  remnant  of  these  "foreigners."  Eager  to  keep 
them  as  bondsmen  and  exploit  them,  yet  afraid  of  their  growing 
numbers,  it  determined  to  check  that  strength,  even  by  secret 
or  open  murder,  by  destroying  the  births  and  growths  of  the 
males  and  retaining  but  the  female  half  of  the  dreaded  race.^  The 
Jew-baiting  methods  of  today,  3,500  years  after  the  Pharaohs, 
in  Russia,  Roumania,  elsewhere,  in  our  boastful  civilization,  in 
Christendom,  etc.,  proves  that  the  Pharaonic  policy  of  drown- 
ing is  history,  and  not  myth. 

Under  such  circumstances,  Moses  made  his  appearance,  in  this 
dismal,  sublunar  world,  as  the  bridge  between  the  contending 
parties,  a  child  of  the  enslaved  race,  brought  up  at  the  court  of 
the  dominant  one.  The  Pharaoh,  thus,  unconsciously,  educating 
and  equipping  a  leader  of  the  oppressed  against  the  oppressors. 

MOSIS'  ENVIRONMENTS  AND  EDUCATION. 

I  said,  extraordinary  men  are  the  result  of  extraordinary 
epochs  and  new,  surprising  constellations  and  environments. 
Great  men  are  not  great  by  mere  chance,  not  by  blind  acci- 
dent or  the  caprice  of  fate,  or  by  miraculous  grace.  History 
is  grounded  in  law.  This  is  a  rabinnical  view,  too.  Abraham 
became  great  by  efforts  and  trials,  by  education  and  gradual 
developing.  "With  Ten  Trials  he  was  tried  and  these  made  him 
great,"  say  our  sages.^  Such  is  also  the  sense  of  the  Greek 
myths  of  Heracles,  Theseus,  Perseus.  Circumstances,  efforts, 
developments  create  epoch-making  men.  Hence  it  is  of  great 
interest  to  know  the  beginnings,  the  genesis  of  great  men.  The 
people  often  surround  them  with  posthumous  miracles  and  prod- 
igies, thinking  that  only  marvels  create  marvels.  The  wise 
know  that  only  great  causes  bring  forth  great  effects.  Marvels 
do  not  explain;  while  reasonable,  though  extraordinary  causes 
do.  Hence  it  is  not  true  what  some  advance,  that  such  causes  are 
later  invented,  myths  explaining  myths.     No,  the  birth,  rearing 


I  M.,  12.  Agada  Dmnsa  nM^v^  nnx  ^o'  ...Dmas  no:  nuroj  ni)i^]}2 


MOSIS'  ENVIRONMENTS  AND  EDUCATION.  13 

and  rise  of  great  men  are  remarkable,  and  hence  they  produce 
remarkable  results.  There  are  certain  historical  critics  that  aim 
at  flattening  all  great  men  and  all  great  events,  declaring  that 
everything  great  is  a  myth,  an  exaggeration,  that  Abraham, 
Moses,  Buddha,  Jesus,  Mohammed,  etc.,  are  but  myths,  they 
and  their  deeds,  that  they  either  never  existed,  or  never  such  as 
depicted  in  history.  This  view  of  vulgarizing  great  epochs, 
lowering  them  to  mere  commonplace,  and  their  human  agents 
also  to  commonplace,  this  view,  too,  is  vulgar.  It  is  not  at  all 
criticism,  not  solving  the  riddles  of  history.  No,  great  events 
and  aeras  are,  no  doubt,  the  result  of  the  surrounding  great  cir- 
cumstances, first,  and  next  of  great  human  agents,  their  repre- 
sentatives, and  both  are  great  and  extraordinary,  the  natural  and 
logical  outcome  of  a  vast  and  incalculable  concatenation  of  things, 
of  which  the  last  ring  is  an  all-wise  Providence,  governing 
all  by  eternal  laws.  Pseudo-critics  tell  us  that  Abraham,  Moses, 
Jesus,  etc.,  are  but  fictions.  Whence  come  then  the  deeds,  yea, 
the  aeras  attributed  to  them,  since  every  effect  must  have  its 
adequate  cause?  If  monotheism,  with  its  correlative  ideas  of 
right,  pan-humanity,  sympathy,  solidarity,  has  not  been  advanced 
by  them,  somebody  else  must  have  done  it,  and  if  somebody  has, 
why  not  those  testified  to  by  history  ?  It  is  but  envy  that  belittles 
mankind  and  its  heroes.     Smallness  begets  smallness. 

Moses  is  thus  a  fact,  a  historical,  real  person ;  Israel's  leader  in 
his  Exodus  from  Egypt,  his  liberator,  the  starter  of  his  legisla- 
tion, the  founder  of  the  nation.  And  these  extraordinary  facts 
must  have  an  extraordinary  cause;  Moses  must  have  been  a 
creative  genius,  acting  in  favorable  extraordinary  environments. 
What  were  these?  Our  chapters  tell  us  this:  From  the  very 
start  his  circumstances  were  strange  and  peculiar,  calling  for  a 
great  genius.  His  people  oppressed,  full  of  energy,  yet  held 
under  the  iron  thumbscrew  of  the  new  Pharaohs  and  the  native 
Egyptians,  suspicious  of  the  foreign  race.  Its  growth  was 
impeded,  its  members  doomed,  its  births  curtailed.  He,  Moses, 
himself,  is  exposed  to  the  mercy  of  the  Nile  waves.  His  mother 
and  sister  contrive — what  does  not  love  and  iron  necessity  con- 
trive?— to  place  him  in  a  casket  into  the  Nile  where  a  court  lady 
frequently  takes  her  baths.  She  passes  by  and  hears  the  cries 
of  the  baby  from  the  casket  in  the  waves.  She  guesses  that  it  is 
a  Hebrew  one,  doomed  to  perish,  and  she  feels  sympathetically. 


14  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE, 

more  as  a  woman  than  as  an  Egyptian.  She  saves  the  child,  and 
calHng  for  a  nurse,  the  sister,  and  soon  the  mother,  close  by,  wait- 
ing for  the  opportunity,  most  naturally  offer  their  services.  So, 
most  naturally  and  without  any  miracles,  the  baby,  doomed  to 
destruction,  is  saved  by  the  very  tyrants,  by  a  Pharaonic 
princess,  in  a  simple,  still  extraordinary  way.  She,  a  daughter  of 
tyranny,  takes  it  upon  herself  to  rear  a  liberator  to,  and  an 
avenger  of,  the  oppressed  people.  And  mark,  this  is  not  a  myth, 
no!  it  is  history,  you  see,  it  is  perfectly  logical,  it  is  necessarily 
true,  for  how  else  would  the  enslaved  race  find  a  leader,  stored 
with  the  faculties,  the  knowledge,  the  learning,  the  experience,  the 
energy,  the  statesmanship,  all  the  resources  and  equipments  re- 
quired for  such  a  gigantic  undertaking — if  the  Court  itself  had 
not  undertaken  to  furnish  the  first,  great  requisite,  a  pariah  edu- 
cated as  a  leader?  Here  is  one  of  those  extraordinary  strokes 
of  divine  policy  which  decide  of  great  events.  Here  was  the 
occasion,  the  need  for  a  great  liberator,  and  the  Court  furnished 
the  liberator!  And  not  only  is  this  a  fact,  not  a  myth,  but  the 
fact  is  cogent,  indispensably  necessary,  the  pivot,  the  turn-point 
of  the  catastrophe.  It  is  the  cue  to  and  the  beginning  of  the 
entire  world-drama.  Moses  was  born  a  Hebrew  slave  and  edu- 
cated as  a  commander,  the  Numa  and  the  Servius  Tullius  of  the 
Jewish  people,  enabled  to  conceive  the  plan,  lead,  prepare  and 
liberate  his  own  pariah-race  and  make  it  a  historic  nation. 

As  Sacred  Scripture  shows  us  Egypt,  and  as  we  know  it  by 
history  now  extant,  it  was  then  at  the  height  of  power  and  civili- 
zation. At  that  court  was  gathered  the  flower  of  oriental  wisdom, 
the  sciences,  arts  and  crafts  of  peace  and  war,  of  government 
and  statesmanship.  There  Moses  learned  all  the  ancient  world 
knew,  so  indispensable  for  his  providential  undertaking,  -to  rescue 
and  liberate,  create  and  rule  a  nation.^ 

There  are  plenty  of  legends  about  his  early  ambitions  and 
activities,  his  successes  and  achievements.  We  are  told  that 
he  had  been  a  soldier,  a  general,  a  conqueror  of  provinces,  of 
Ethiopia,  that  he  even  had  married  there  a  royal  princess.  No 
doubt,  a  gifted  young  man,  patronized  by  the  court,  the  most 
brilliant  future  was  open  to  his  genius.  Scripture  passes  all  that 
in  silence.  Our  chapter  introduces  him  modestly  and  simply: 
"Moses  was  tending  to  the  flocks  of  Jethro,  his  father-in-law." 


1  So  Maimonides  contends,  after  the  Rabbis,  that  only  such  extraor- 
dinary men  can  perform  such  deeds;  that  a  prophet  must  be  strong, 
rich  and  energetic. 


MOSIS'  ENVIRONMENTS  AND  EDUCATION.  is 

Another  proof  of  its  veracity  and  historical  calibre ;  it  keeps 
strictly  to  facts,  when  depicting  the  characters  of  its  hero.  Now 
consider :  Any  other,  usual  man  would  have  prudently  forgotten 
his  affiliation  with  the  enslaved  race,  would  have  denied  it  and 
rather  vaunted  and  bragged  of  his  princely  standing,  of  his  Egyp- 
tian education,  of  office,  state-sword  and  preferments.  We  well 
know  this  petty  vanity  and  this  prudent  meanness,  which  repu- 
diate and  deny  the  minority,  the  losing  party  and  ever  hasten  into 
the  ranks  of  the  majority,  of  the  winning,  reigning  class  or 
party.  We  know  of  those  turn-coats  who  feel  flattered  when  mis- 
taken for  one  of  the  dominant  race.  Many  a  fool  says :  "I  am  no- 
Irishman,  no  Dutchman,  no  Jew :  I  am  a  man !  I  am  not  clannish, 
I  am  a  citizen  of  the  vast  world !"  That  is  mere  cant  and  sub- 
terfuge. That  is  the  mask  of  cold  selfishness.  Such  people  are 
no  good  religionists,  no  good  men,  no  true  patriots  and  no  real 
humanists.  They  are  cunning,  petty  egoists.  To  be  a  good  man, 
begin  to  be  a  good  Teuton,  Jew  or  Irishman.  To  be  a  citizen  of  the 
world  you  must  start  as  a  good  patriot  of  your  country.  Begin 
within  that  small  sphere  Providence  has  indicated  by  your  station,, 
your  birth.  Doing  there  your  duty  you  will  benefit  all  humanity 
and  the  entire  world.  "Whosoever  desires  to  perform  something 
great,  must  concentrate  his  greatest  energy  upon  the  smallest 
point."^  So  acted  Moses,  the  Hebraic  pariah,  the  world- 
leader.  He  who  bore  an  Egyptian  pallium,  a  grandee's  sword 
and  uniform,  who  had  enjoyed  an  Egyptian  education  and  was 
permeated  with  cosmopolitan  ways  of  thinking,  he  had  not  lost 
his  Hebraic  consciousness.  He  remembered  his  birth,  his  parents,, 
and  kindred,  his  pariah-home  and  his  race,  their  sad  history^ 
and  their  wrongs.  He  forgot  not  his  duty  towards  them  and 
was  not  dazzled  by  the  lustre  of  his  adoption.  Here  is  the  siga 
of  true  greatness,  of  moral  worth,  yea,  of  genius,  of  a  great 
destiny.  (Let  us  illustrate  this  by  a  quotation  from  Roman  litera- 
ture: Cicero,  speaking  of  such  a  man  (De  Amicitia  dialogus) 
says :  "This  is  an  example  to  be  imitated :  Has  one  acquired  any 
kind  of  superiority,  virtue,  spirit,  fortune,  let  him  divide  it  with 
his  friends  and  his  kindred.  Is  one  born  in  an  obscure  family,  of 
poor  parents,  modestly  endowed,  he  must  be  their  fortune,  honor, 

iGoethe.    Willst  Du  was  Grosses  leisten,  so  richte  die  grosste  Kraft 
auf  den  kleinsten  Punkt. 


i6  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

glory."!  Here  are  combined  a  solid  head,  a  feeling  heart,  and  an 
energetic  hand;  here  are  vast  thoughts  and  deep  sympathies. 
Where  head,  heart  and  hand  work  in  harmony,  there  is  a  great 
man  born  into  the  world.  A  good  heart  without  the  solid  head, 
is  of  little  avail.  A  solid  head  without  a  sympathetic  heart,  often 
turns  dangerous  to  the  world.  Such  were  Sulla,  Caesar,  Napoleon. 
Head  and  heart  in  harmony,  what  sympathy  erst  craves  and 
muses,  then  plans  and  contrives  with  a  firm  head,  and  executes 
with  an  energetic  hand,  that  makes  a  leader,  a  genuine  humanist, 
a  historical  epoch,  a  providential  instrument  of  liberation  and 
initiative,  an  aera  in  man's  annals.  Such  were  Moses  and  his 
achievements. 

THE  CRISIS,  MOSIS'  FLIGHT 

What  is  the  crisis?  When  does  Moses,  the  born  Hebrew 
slave,  the  adopted  Egyptian  prince,  take  sides  and  declare  him- 
self a  Hebrew  patriot?  Bloomed  up  into  manhood,  adorned  with 
youth,  health,  spirit  and  knowledge,  an  Egyptian  purple-cloak 
hanging  from  his  shoulders,  and  an  Egyptian  sword  dangling  at 
his  firm  side_,  imbibed  with  the  fumes  of  court  favor  and  prefer- 
ment, he  nevertheless  remembers  the  wrinkles  of  his  mother,  the 
woes  of  his  kindred  and  brethren !  His  heart  prompts  him  to  see 
them  in  their  villanage.  He  repairs  for  the  first  time  to  the 
Hebrew  camp.  What  a  sight  of  woe  and  brutality,  of  tears,  pros- 
tration, hard  labor !  What  a  sight  of  human  wretchedness  and 
remorseless  cruelty !  He  feels  revolted,  horrified !  His  blood 
boils  and  rises !  What  a  sight  of  tyranny,  cruelty,  and  over- 
bearing on  one  side,  of  submission  and  long  suffering,  of  meek 
resignation  and  abject  misery  on  the  other!  This  is  Mosis' 
crisis.  His  feelings  get  the  mastery  over  his  worldly  prudence. 
The  Egyptian  grandee  yields  and  recedes  in  his  bosom,  and  the 
Israelite  predominates. — When  he  beheld  a  poor  Hebraic  laborer 
writhing  under  an  Egyptian  lash,  sick  with  age  and  ill  treatment, 
the  laborer  is  succumbing  under  his  exhausting  work  and  the 
blows  of  his  cruel  Egyptian  task-master,  shouting :  Work  or  die, 
slave !  And  Moses  hesitates  no  longer,  he  draws  his  good  sword, 
a  stroke — and  the  cruel  task-master  lies  dead  at  his  feet. 


iCicero.     Si  propinquis  habeant  imbeciliores  vel  animo  vel  fortuna, 
corum  augeant  opes,  eisque  honori  sint  et  dignitati. 


THE  CRISIS,  MOSIS'  FLIGHT.  17 

Quickly  a  fellow-Hebrew  denounces  the  patriot:  "Wilt  thou 
kill  me  as  thou  recently  didst  the  Egyptian  ?"  Slavery  brutalizes 
even  to  ingratitude.  The  deed  is  soon  reported  to  the  authori- 
ties and  Moses  must  flee  for  his  life.  He  goes  into  exile.  He  fore- 
goes his  proud  hopes  and  expectations  at  the  court  of  the  king. 
He  counts  himself  out  from  the  ranks  of  the  oppressors,  and  nobly 
enters  those  of  the  oppressed.  Clearly  he  sees  and  recognizes  in 
his  conscience,  his  task,  his  providential  mission :  The  liberation 
of  his  oppressed  race!  He  goes  into  exile,  into  the  Arabian 
desert,  settles  in  one  of  its  rare  oasis,  for  shelter  and  meditation, 
abiding  his  time,  meditating  upon  his  work  of  enfranchisement, 
his  mission  to  the  Israelitish  pariahs. 

Many  are  the  legendary  reminiscences  of  his  forty  years'  sojourn 
in  Arabia,  as  reported  in  Medrashim,  Josephus  and  rare  Gentile 
sources.  Here  I  shall  adduce  but  one,  it  is  characteristic:  The 
Egyptian  courtier-exile,  the  future  liberator  earns  his  daily  bread 
as  the  shepherd  of  the  flocks  of  a  tent-dwelling  Sheikh,  a  Be- 
douin, Jethro  the  Lord  of  Midyan,  an  Oasis,  there.  Once  upon 
a  time  he  misses  a  young  lamb  from  his  numerous  flock.  The 
sun  glows  high  on  the  horizon,  with  its  burning  rays  perpendicu- 
larly darting  upon  the  earth;  the  shading  shrubs,  the  cooling 
rocks  are  rare.  The  heated  desert-sands  inflame  the  air,  all  is  a 
glowing  furnace.  But  the  little  lamb  is  missing.  Its  anxious 
mother  is  distressfully  bleating.  So  Moses  goes  on  its  search, 
for  hours ;  at  last  he  discovers  it.  It  is  lame,  fainting  and  starved ; 
it  cannot  move  on  and  utters  its  last  laments,  in  the  deadly  sun- 
rays.  Moses  raises  it  in  his  arms,  up  to  his  bosom,  pats  and  con- 
soles it ;  himself  exhausted  with  heat  and  thirst,  he  carries  it  to  the 
mother.  And  Almighty  looking  down  from  His  heavenly  window, 
wiped  off  a  pearly  tear  from  his  big  Providential  eye,  saying :  Mos- 
es, thou  art  so  sympathetic  with  a  poor,  dumb,  lame  lamb ;  Moses, 
thou  wilt  sympathize  with  My  poor  sheep,  the  flock  of  Israel,  and, 
in  that  instant  He  intrusts  him  with  the  mission  to  the  Hebrew 
enslaved  ones.  People  looking  for  and  choosing  their  leaders, 
should  take  this  legend  to  heart  and  see  whether  such  leaders 
rescue  the  poor  lambs,  or  rather  devour  them. 


i8  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

HOREB,   SINAI,  THE  ARABIAN   DESERT. 

During  his  forty  years'  sojourn  in  the  desert,  he  was  continu- 
ally meditating  and  brooding  over  the  possibilities  of  redeeming 
his  enslaved  brethren.  The  lofty,  inspiring  vista  of  that  sunny, 
boundless  Arabian  peninsula,  a  continent,  a  world  for  itself,  set 
apart  by  nature,  a  grandiose  empire  of  freedom,  where  man 
ever  lives  in  his  pristine  conditions,  in  unlimited  independence, 
original  force  and  stern  simplicity,  so  strikingly  contrasting  with 
the  dazzling,  boastful,  artificial,  over-refined,  rotten  Pharaonic 
civilization  of  ancient  Egypt,  that  matured  in  his  mind  the  feasi- 
bility of  his  hazardous  undertaking  of  liberation.  Often  he 
pastured  his  flocks  there  in  the  neighborhood  of  Horeb,  a  bar- 
ren promontory,  a  high  plateau  stretching  above  Sinai,  a  hoary 
ridge  of  mountains,  revered  and  deemed  holy  already  in  those 
antique  times.  It  is  a  region  of  mountains,  mount  on  'top  of 
other  mounts,  "Ossa  piled  on  Pelion.''^  From  its  highest  peak 
you  see  the  three  continents  of  the  ancient  world  spreading 
out  at  your  feet.  The  great  seas  of  the  ancient  map,  the  Indian 
Ocean,  the  Persian  Gulf,  the  Arabian  or  Red  Sea,  and  the  Medi- 
terranean roll  their  waves  around  that  mountain-ridge.  It  is  the 
proud,  connecting  link  between  Arabia,  Asia,  Africa  and  Europe. 
The  Horeb  region  appears  as  the  root,  the  base,  the  nucleus  of 
the  ancient  world;  from  its  top  there  spreads  a  marvelous 
illimitable  vista  of  beauty  and  boundless  grandeur,  awe-inspiring 
■and  delighting,  expanding  the  mind  of  the  beholder,  lifting  up 
his  soul,  scattering  despondency,  creating  cheer,  energy  and 
hope,  displaying  the  boundless  magnitude  of  the  universe  and  of 
its  Creator,  laughing  at  and  frowning  upon  the  pettiness  of 
human  lordship,  tyranny  and  overbearing.  From  the  height  of 
Sinai,  as  his  pedestal,  dawned  and  flashed  upon  Moses,  the 
divine  impulse  of  redemption.  There  was  revealed  to  him  the 
God  of  right,  of  liberty,  of  justice  to  the  oppressed.  There  he 
was  inspired  with  his  mission  to  Israel. 

Many  positivists,  now,  disclaim  all  that  and  say :  There  was  no 
Horeb  and  no  Sinai,  no  Moses  and  no  revelation.  "All  these 
chapters  are  but  a  popular  construction,  post  factum,  an  intro- 
duction after  the  work  was  completed."     But  we  appeal  to  the 

1  Now  termed  Gebel  Musa,  In  Arabia  Petraea,  8,000  feet  high,  with  a 
promontory,  a  1,000  feet  higher  still,  now  assumed  as  the  Scriptural 
Horeb,  both  piously  ascertained  by  old,  uninterrupted  traditions  and 
the  pen  of  poets,  dear  to  the  human  heart,  but  unimportant  to  criticism. 


HOREB,    SINAI,    THE    ARABIAN    DESERT.  19 

experience  of  men  of  thought  and  of  deed,  to  men  who  are  not 
satisfied  with  traveHng  on  the  highways  of  custom ;  to  men  who 
strike  a  path  for  themselves,  the  rugged  path  of  initiative,  genius 
and  invention;  to  men  who  have  left  some  trace  of  their  earthly 
pilgrimage — where  did  they  take  their  bold  resolve,  their  peril- 
ous courage,  their  noble  inspirations  to  leave  the  broad  road  of 
habit,  comfort  and  commonplace,  and  turn  to  the  steep  and 
abrupt  by-paths  of  new  ideas,  bold  achievements  and  long  sus- 
tained efforts?  Not  surely  in  the  narrow  shop  or  busy  mart, 
not  on  the  noisy  exchange,  not  even  in  the  elegant  chair  at 
Church  or  theater.  No,  they  took  it  in  free  nature,  in  the  vast 
wild  forest,  on  some  high  mountain  peak,  on  the  Chimborazo, 
or  the  burning  Mount  Pelee,^  or  the  Mount  Blanc,  at  the  Niagara 
Falls,  or  the  ocean  shore,  on  the  Kickelhahn  of  Thuringia,  the 
Harz,  the  Allegheny,  or  the  Rocky  Mountains.  There,  far  from 
the  deafening  noise  and  turmoil  of  petty  interests,  far  from  small 
ambitions  and  strife,  there  the  human  mind  grows,  recovers  its 
dignity  and  rises  to  the  height  of  its  own  grand  possibilities; 
and  there  it  finds  inspiration,  elasticity,  energy,  enthusiasm ;  there 
it  finds  revelation,  there  it  conceives  the  divine  behest,  to  under- 
take and  execute  great  things,  advancing  the  human  race.  There 
is  the  pristine  holy  of  holies,  where  the  human  mind  comes  in 
close  touch  with  the  Divine  Mind  and  hears  the  call :  Go,  Moses, 
and  redeem  the  oppressed ! 

And  such  calls  are  not  few.  The  Deity  ever  calls,  but  rare  are 
those  intently  listening  to  the  call !  Whence  hail  these  grand  char- 
acters? Wherever  you  see  noble,  chaste  enthusiasm,  warm  sym- 
pathy for  the  oppressed  and  lowly,  sincere  yearning  to  help,  be  it 
even  at  one's  own  peril,  there  is  the  germ  of  the  liberator,  the 
savior  and  prophet.  A  few  of  such  germs  grow,  mature  and 
realize.  Many  more  decay,  wither  and  die,  lured  away  by  petty 
interests,  politics  and  schemers;  wrecked  by  too  great  difficulties, 
or  by  too  great  temptations ;  not  having  enough  of  the  prophetic 
energy.     A  few  great  genii  remain,  the  chosen  of  the  chosen 


1  I  think  of  the  rugged,  laborious,  noble  career  of  both  the  Heil- 
prins,  Michael  and  Angelo,  the  father  and  the  son,  both  living  and 
dying,  for  the  advance  of  their  fellowmen,  of  their  race  and  of  science, 
both  inspired  of  the  holy  spirit — a  wreath  to  each  of  them. 


20  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

ones,  a  rare  select  band  of  God-kissed  souls,  mighty,  spiritual 
men,  with  sympathizing  hearts  and  impulsive  hands,  the  flower 
of  the  race.  They  insist,  in  spite  of  difficulties,  poverty,  derision, 
abandonment,  and  misconstruction.  These  are  the  mile-posts  in 
history,  the  standard  bearers  of  progress.  They  hear  the  divine 
voice  calling:  "Go,  rescue,  liberate  My  people,  to  the  end  that 
they  may  worship  Me,  the  Divine,  not  the  Pharaohs." 

Now  do  not  quibble  about  supernaturalism,  inspiration,  proph- 
ecy and  miraculous  visions,  or  about  enthusiasm,  patriotism, 
genius,  generosity,  duty,  sympathy,  conscious  initiative,  genuine 
yearning  to  do  good.  Call  it  what  you  please,  natural  or  supernat- 
ural, prophecy  or  divine  genius,  or  humane  holiness.  It  is  the  grand- 
est, sublimest,  it  is  mind-power,  it  is  divine.  Consider  it  rationally 
or  mystically.  It  is  identical,  it  is  inspiration,  it  comes  from  on 
high,  from  the  Source  of  all  Mind  and  Goodness.  In  its  sublimest 
stages  it  creates  prophets,  initiators,  liberators,  hearing  the  admo- 
nition :  Go  and  liberate !  I  say :  It  comes  from  the  Sacred  self- 
evident  though  hidden  and  mysterious  Source  of  Mind  and  Good- 
ness. Or  does  it  come  from  elsewhere  ?  from  petty  ambition,  from 
selfishness,  from  cunning  scheming?  Not  Machiavell  would 
soberly  affirm  that !  Contemplate  and  consider :  Moses,  a  pariah 
adopted  by  the  court,  raised  and  educated  as  a  lord,  surrenders 
the  allurements  of  power,  favor  and  preferment,  throws  all  that  to 
the  winds,  gives  up  all  those  advantages,  declares  himself  a  fel- 
low-pariah, retires  to  the  wilderness,  lives  upon  roots  and  water 
and,  there,  determines  upon  the  even  more  hazardous  and  thank- 
less task,  of  becoming  the  mouthpiece  of  a  horde  of  slaves 
against  their  powerful  masters !  Can  such  a  resolve  come  from 
any  other  source  than  that  of  All-Goodness  and  All-Power? 

Again  let  us  appeal  to  history  and  fact.  Inquire  and  scruti- 
nize every  great  epoch  and  its  human  agents,  yea,  any  superior 
man  of  your  personal  acquaintance,  and  you  will  find  out,  he  had 
his  Horeb,  his  Sinai,  his  sacred  mount,  where  was  the  crisis  of 
his  life,  where  his  resolve  upon  this  or  that  generous  career  was 
determined  upon.  Even  so  had  Kapila  and  Buddha,  Zoroaster 
and  Jesus  and  Mohammed,  each,  had  his  holy  mount.  Yea,  even 
minor  minds,  as  Alexander,  Cyrus,  Plato,  Paul,  Huss,  Bruno, 
Luther,  all,  had  their  sacred  mounts,  where  they  had  taken 
their  inspiration,  their  resolution  for  their  tasks.  Commonplace 
men,  take  their  final  stand  in  common,  everyday  places.     Supe- 


THE   BURNING   BUSH.  21 

rior  men  rise  to  the  grand  vistas  of  nature,  wherever  hovers  the 
Shekhina  of  the  God  of  nature,  there  their  vocation  is  deter- 
mined upon. 

Even  so  we  read  in  II  M,  3.  "And  Moses  led  his  flock  to  the 
Mount  of  God  at  Horeb.  And  he  beheld  the  angel  of  Ihvh  in  the 
flame  from  the  thornbush. .  .He  saw  the  bush  burning  but  never 
consumed. .  .So  he  stepped  nearer. .  .when  the  divine  voice  called 
out :  I  am  the  God  of  thy  fathers ...  I  have  seen  the  tribulations 
of  my  people,  in  Egypt,  I  have  heard  their  cry  and  know  their 
woes ...  I  will  rescue  them  from  the  hand  of  Egypt  and  bring 
them  unto  a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey. .  .Now,  go,  I  send 
thee  to  Pharaoh  and  redeem  Israel  from  Egypt... And  Moses 
said:  "Who  am  I  to  call  on  Pharaoh  to  free  Israel?"  What  a 
grand  tragic!  The  struggle  of  genius  with  human  weakness 
and  inimical  circumstances !  He  hesitates  at  the  stupendous  un- 
dertaking and  his  slender  means.  He  thinks  of  his  wife,  chil- 
dren and  sweet  home,  of  parents  and  kindred  in  Egypt,  of  the 
power  and  tyranny  of  the  Pharaohs.  His  courage  faints,  his 
human  helplessness  overpowers  him :  "Who  am  I  to  undertake 
such  a  gigantic  task?" 

And  God  said :  "I  shall  be  with  thee.  ..And  this  be  thy  test :  on 
this  very  mount  you  shall  worship... I  am  the  God  of  Eter- 
nity, the  Everlasting,  I  send  thee  to  Israel,  go  and  assemble  the 
Elders . . .  Call  on  the  king  and  tell  him :  Ihvh,  bids  us  to  go  and 
worship  him ...  I  know  he  will  refuse,  but  I  shall  compel  him  and 
he  will  let  you  go.." 

Mosis'  great  and  sympathetic  soul  felt  enkindled ;  his  powerful 
brain  was  lit  up  with  the  flaming  thornbush  ;  mighty  Sinai  burnt 
in  his  mightier  heart.  The  vibrating  and  flashing  thunders  voiced 
forth  redemption.  It  burned  and  singed  and  flamed  in  his  sympa- 
thetic bosom.  The  thought  of  liberation  lit  up  and  transfigured 
him ;  the  immortal  thought  to  free  and  avenge  his  brethren,  stood 
clear  and  illumined  before  him,  and  that  thought  never  more 
vanished.  "Behold,  the  bush  was  burning,  but  was  never  con- 
sumed." Material  fire  destroys  its  own  combustible  matter ;  spirit- 
ual fire  ever  burns  and  never  consumes..  It  ever  burns,  and  is 
never  quenched.  It  ever  burns,  cheers,  illumines  and  fires  on,  but 
never  destroys  its  bearer.    The  tenacity,  the  elasticity  of  initiators' 


22  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

is  astonishing,  visibly  upheld  by  their  inherent  divine  force: 
"the  burning  bush,  burning,  never  consumed."  Again  the  burn- 
ing bush  "is  the  grandest  symbol  of  the  redemption-thought  of 
the  great  liberator.  Feels  one  his  warm  heart  sincerely  inspired 
with,  and  pulsing  for,  human  weal  and  improvement ;  has  one  the 
head  to  conceive  and  the  plan,  with  the  hand  to  execute  it,  to  help 
and  rescue  his  fellows,  then  that  thought,  that  holy  passion,  that 
energy  will  never  die  out.  His  heart  will  burn  and  bleed  and 
ache  as  if  to  burst  into  a  thousand  splinters.  His  brain  will  teem 
and  brood  and  hammer  out  the  plan,  until  the  work  will  be 
accomplished.  The  world  is  indifferent  and  coldly  looks  on  the 
dreamer,  the  enthusiast."  But  the  enthusiast  feels  inspired.  This 
very  enthusiasm  ever  burns  and  shines  and  cheers  him  until  the 
work  is  accomplished.  Reader,  doubt  not!  Great  thoughts  ever 
are  divine  inspirations,  God's  messengers,  holy  revelations  coming 
from  the  Supreme  Source  of  Goodness  and  Wisdom,  revealed 
from  Mind  to  mind,  rays  from  God  to  man.  They  never  die. 
Never !  Their  human  vehicle,  the  mortal  agent,  may  perish,  they 
never!  Have  such  thoughts  once  invaded  a  human  breast,  have 
they  once  lit  up  a  human  brain,  then  they  will  ever  burn  and 
kindle  ever  more,  and  never  be  put  down  until  realized  in  fact 
and  in  history.  They  are  the  utterance,  Verb,  of  the  divine  angel, 
whispering,  speaking,  roaring,  thundering:  I  have  seen  the 
afflictions  of  My  people . .  .  Go,  Moses,  and  rescue  them !  The 
great  Moses-heart  was  itself  that  burning  bush,  in  his  soul  the 
flaming  angel  called :  Moses  go  and  rescue  !  Pharaoh  shrugged 
his  shoulders:  That  is  none  of  thy  business,  Moses,  thou  senti- 
mentalist or  demagogue !  But  Moses  was  not  dismayed,  he  felt 
the  inspiration:    "Go,  and  make  free!" 

ISRAEL'S  LABORS. 

And  to  this  day  the  wonderful  thornbush  is  burning.  It  burnt 
at  Horeb ;  it  burnt  in  Mosis'  heart;  it  burns  now  in 
Israel's  and  mankind's  history.  Israel  represents  in  history  that 
ever  burning  thornbush.  Lowly,  diminutive,  dry,  despised — 
yet  "the  Bush  burns  and  is  never  consumed."  A  thousand  times 
beaten,  broken,  scattered;  yet  he  is  erect,  entire,  undismayed, 
hopeful,  reckoning  upon  the  future.^     From  the  center  of  that 


Ac«da  piin  'J3  JMi^n  njtj'^jKnay  Knytj'n  ...D'bt^n•1^3  nxan  n:iyb  ^ 


ISRAEL'S  LABORS  23 

humble  flame  the  divine  angel  still  and  ever  calls:  I  have  seen 
the  tribulations  and  have  heard  the  cry  of  the  people.  "Go  and 
rescue  theni !"  Moses  and  Israel  have  ever  represented  the 
masses,  the  laboring  people,  liberalism,  the  party  of  enfranchise- 
ment. Israel,  as  once  Moses,  ever  kept  up  the  revelation  of  every 
man's  rights.  The  Hebrew  is  the  historical  mouthpiece  of  the 
divine  spirit  of  advance  and  of  emancipation,  ever  calling :  "Pha- 
raoh, let  My  people  go,  let  them  serve  God :  they  are  God's  ser- 
vants, not  the  slaves  of  slaves."  Israel  is  the  champion  and 
emancipator  from  the  social,  economical  and  political  yoke,  of 
guilds,  classes,  priests,  dynasts.  He  is  also  the  protest  and  the  shield 
against  lurking  sensuality  and  materialism.  "Let  go  My  people, 
that  they  may  serve  God."  The  divine,  the  spiritual,  the  moral, 
the  ideal,  is  the  task  of  Israel,  he  is  calling  mankind  to  the  service 
of  the  Divine.  Israel  never  made  war  for  conquest  and  spoils. 
His  entire  history  is  one  great  lesson  that,  not  war  and  conquest, 
not  acquisition  and  money,  not  the  exchange  and  the  market,  but 
spirituality,  ideality,  mentality  are  man's  goal.  Not  pleasure  and 
splendor,  but  correct  thinking,  feeling,  educating  and  acting  are 
the  grand  objects  of  human  civilization.^ 

GREAT  THOUGHTS  NEVER  DIE.         "  ,    '-        ' 

As  the  Thornbush  of  Horeb,  great  thoughts  burn  and  never  die 
out.  When  in  the  sixteenth  century  the  idea  flamed  up  that  con- 
science and  religion  must  be  free,  that  man  should  think  and 
believe  according  to  his  own  free,  honest  convictions,  then  arose 
Wyclif  and  Huss,  Luther,  Calvin,  Zwingli,  Knox,  etc.,  and  con- 
ceived the  scheme  of  the  Reformation.  And  that  new  principle 
never  more  receded.  Europe  was  involved  in  one  common,  civil 
and  interstate  conflagration,  countries  were  devastated  and  my- 
riads perished  in  battle,  by  the  hangman,  or  in  the  vaults  of  the 
Inquisition,  but  free  thought  and  Religious  toleration  were 
upheld. 

When,  in  the  eighteenth  century,  the  principle  of  political  free- 
dom and  equality  before  the  law,  human  dignity,  no  born  rulers 
and  no  born  slaves,  dawned  upon  Europe  and  America,  the  world 
was  lifted  out  of  its  hinges.  Streams  of  blood  flowed,  mountains 
of  wrecks  were  heaped  over  the  old  world,  the  third,  yea,  the' 
fourth  Estate,  the  people,  arose  on  the  debris  of  dynasts  and 

iNot  with  armies,  not  by  force,  but  by  my  Spirit.    (Sashana.) 


24  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

nobles.  Right,  bread,  freedom  and  pursuit  of  happiness  for  all 
triumphed.  Coalitions  and  holy  alliances  yielded  to  right  and 
common  sense. 

When,  after  Moses  Mendelssohn  and  with  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, the  idea  dawned,  that  the  Jews  are  part  of  humanity,  that 
Israel  did  his  share  in  history,  in  the  labor  of  civilization,  that 
Jews  are  not  Kammerknechte,  not  the  serfs  of  the  Crown,  should 
pay  no  LeihzoU,  not  be  slandered  by  the  Pfaffen,  not  maltreated 
by  baron  and  mob,  that  idea  had  its  struggle,  is  not  yet  fully 
admitted  by  some.  But  it  is  ever  gaining  ground,  never  receding, 
it  is  bound  to  triumph,  it  has  the  co-operation  of  every  honest 
and  fair-minded  man  of  all  races  and  creeds. 

When  the  thirteen  North  American  colonies  awakened  to  the 
idea  of  total  independence  from  England,  of  self-government  by 
the  people  and  for  the  people ,  no  foreign  taxation  and  no  taking 
advantage,  no  metropolis,  no  colonies  and  no  exploitation,  Ameri- 
ca for  the  Americans,  for  the  oppressed  of  all  nations  and  noc  for 
the  oppressors,  no  disqualification  on  account  of  creed,  race  and 
class,  classes  and  masses  to  be  merged  into  the  people,  rights, 
duties,  schools,  chances,  bread  and  aspirations  alike  for  all — 
there  was  an  immense  conflict,  clash  of  arms,  waste  of  property, 
bloodshed.  But  the  thirteen  colonies  came  out  triumphant.  They 
form  now  the  United  States  of  America;  85  millions  of  free 
people,  the  beaconlight  of  humanity,  the  pattern  of  freedom, 
social  equality  and  peace.  "Behold  the  thornbush  burned,  yet 
was  never  consumed?" ...  The  Angel  of  Ihvh  called  from  that 
flame:  "I  have  seen  the  miseries  of  the  people,  I  shall  redeem 
them.  Go,  Moses,  I  send  thee  to  Pharaoh,  to  rescue  My  people 
from  Egypt."  Not  king  and  baron,  not  force  and  over-reaching, 
not  egoism  and  sensuality,  but  God  and  freedom,  right  and  civi- 
lization shall  rule. 

'  Such  is  constituted  the  flame  of  the  Burning  Bush,  the 
divine  voice  of  sympathy  with  suffering  humanity,  and  such  are 
the  providential  men,  the  liberators  sent  out  to  rescue  man  from 
the  Pharaohs.  Such  was  Moses:  A  heart  warmly  feeling  for 
the  people,  a  head  conceiving  the  idea  and  the  means  of  liberation, 
a  hand  of  energy,  unshaken  and  undismayed,  to  realize  the 
designs  of  Providence,  for  the  advance  of  mankind,  such  are  con- 
stituted the  liberators,  the  leaders,  the  aera-makers,  the  prophets ; 
their  thoughts  are  revelations,  their  deeds  are  providential,  they 


MEDRASHIM    ON    MOSES.  25 

are  divine  messengers,  they  receive  and  carry  to  mankind  the 
mandates  of  God :   Go,  help,  Hberate,  improve ! 

Let  us  quote  here  some  of  the  tales  and  legends,  on  that 
memorable  epoch,  found  in  Talmud,  Commentaries  and  Med- 
rashim,  all  stories  claimed  to  be  hinted  at  by  our  Sacred  text  of 
Exodus,  popular  tales  helping  to  supplement  history :  When 
Pharaoh  determined  upon  cruel  oppression,  he  called  together 
the  doomed  race  and  said  to  them  sweetly^ :  I  pray  you,  only 
today  help  me  make  some  bricks  and  finish  up  these  necessary 
fortifications.  He  set  personally  an  example,  took  up  the  basket, 
shovel  and  trowel  and  began  busily  toiling.  Of  course  every 
Hebrew  laborer  zealously  followed  the  royal  example,  took  up 
the  work  and  made  as  many  bricks  as  he  possibly  could  in  the 
shortest  time.  When  the  night  set  in,  Pharaoh  said :  Well  done, 
my  brave  lads :  please  count  accurately  how  many  bricks  did  you 
make,  each  ?  Informed  of  the  goodly  number,  he  said :  Take 
care  now  you  fellows ;  As  many  must  you  make,  day  by  day,  or 
the  lash  will  drop  on  your  lazy  shoulders,  for  every  brick  you 
miss  (Yalkut,  163).  Our  modern  Pharaohs  may  learn  from  that 
how  to  ring  out  taxes  and  imposts  from  simple-minded  people. 

(Sota  ii  b.)  R.  Aquiba  taught:  "In  reward  of  the  pious 
women  of  that  generation,  was  Israel  redeemed  from  Egypt :  for 
when  they  went  to  fetch  their  water  from  the  Nile,  God  made 
them  fill  their  pitchers  half  with  water  and  half  with  little  fishes. 
They  went  home,  made  that  to  soup  with  fish  and  quickly  brought 
both  to  their  husbands  in  the  field,  caressed  and  encouraged  them 
to  eat  and  drink,  be  of  good  cheer  and  have  patience  in  the  hard 
times :  "Fear  not,  not  forever  will  this  toil  last,  soon  our  God  will 
redeem  you  from  this  bondage,"  giving  them  the  utmost  token  of 
their  tenderness,  hopefulness  and  love.  (Ibid.  163:4.)  Once 
upon  a  time  Pharaoh  dreamt  .^  He  was  sitting  upon  his  throne 
and  lo !  an  old  man  stepped  before  him  with  a  pair  of  scales  in  his 
hand.  Then  he  took  all  the  grandees  of  the  court,  tied  them  up 
as  a  bundle  of  hay  and  placed  them  upon  one  scale,  and  a  young 
lamb  he  put  into  the  other  scale,  and  the  tiny  lamb  outweighed 
all  the  lords.    Awakening  and  wondering,  Pharaoh  assembled  his 


Sweetly.    Yalkut,  Exodus,  Tanhuma,  Abkhir.        '^riSji  =1T  nD3  ^ 
Ibid.     Biography  of  Moses.     ntJ'IDT  ,D'D^^  nm   ^ 


26  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

ministers  and  expressed  to  them  his  perplexity  at  this  strange 
dream.  A  Senator  explained  to  him:  This  means  that  a  child 
will  be  born  to  the  Hebrew  race  who,  when  grown  up,  will  beat 
all  thy  ministers,  generals  and  armies,  and  destroy  thy  kingdom. 
In  order  to  prevent  this  to  happen,  the  king  should  ordain  that 
every  new-born  Hebraic  male  shall  at  once  be  killed.  The  king 
followed  the  advice.  The  two  midwives,  refusing  their  assistance 
to  the  king  to  murder  the  unborn  infants,  were  Jochabed  and 
Miryam,  themselves.^  The  latter  had  foretold  the  birth  of  Moses 
as  the  liberator  of  his  race,  hence  her  inventiveness  and  extra- 
painstaking  for  his  safety.  From  an  ancient  Biography  of  Moses 
the  Medrash  quotes  that,  the  Pharaonic  princess  who  had 
adopted  the  child,  named  him,  Moshe;^  his  father  called  him 
Heher;  his  mother,  Jequthial;  his  sister,  Jered;  his  brothers,  Ahi 
Sanuch;  his  grandfather,  Ahi  Socho;  and  the  Israelites  called 
him  Shamayah.  "God  has  listened  to  our  cries."  Each  of  these 
names  has  its  ominous  meaning,  of  course,  in  Hebrew,  assumed 
to  have  been  their  idiom. 

When  Moses  was  in  his  third  year,  Pharaoh  was  once  sitting 
on  his  throne,  his  queen  at  his  right  hand,  his  daughter,  Bathia,  at 
his  left,  the  child,  Moses,  in  her  lap,  and  the  governors  of  the 
empire  standing  around;  when  Moses  stretched  forth  his  little 
hand,  snatched  the  crown  from  the  king's  brow,  and  placed  it 
upon  his  own.  The  king  and  his  grandees  were  astonished  and 
dismayed  at  that,  when  Bileam,  the  royal  astrologer,  arose  and 
said:  I  still  remember,  O  great  king,  the  dream  that  thou  once 
didst  dream,  and  my  interpretation  thereof.  Here,  this  boy,  is  a 
Hebrew  one,  well  inspired  by  fate;  he  acted  that  day  by  cunning, 
and  wittingly,  he  is  an  aspirant  to  the  crown  of  Egypt!  Then 
wicked  Bileam  began  slandering  the  entire  ancestry  of  little 
Moses  and  concluded  with :  If  it  pleases  thy  Highness,  the 
ambitious  boy  shall  be  put  to  death,  at  once,  before  he  succeeds 
in  despoiling  thee  of  thy  dominion  and  ruin  all  our  prosperity. 
Whereupon  God  sent  his  angel,  Gabriel,  in  the  guise  of  one  of 
the  Egyptian  dignitaries,  who  said :  If  it  please  thy  Highness, 
let  a  sparkling  gem  and  a  burning  coal  be  placed  before  the 
child ;  now  if  it  stretches  forth  the  hand  and  takes  the  gem,  tlien 
it  acted  advisedly  and  you  shall  order  to  kill  it ;  but  if  it  snatches 

1  Identical  with  the  Shiphra  and  Puah,  of  the  Hebrew  text,  accord- 
ing to  the  Medrash. 

2  I  saved  him  (from  the  Nile  waters). 


MEDRASHIM    ON    MOSES.  27 

and  grasps  after  the  fiery  coal,  we  shall  know  it  acted  unwittingly 
and  may  be  spared.  The  king  was  satisfied  with  the  test.  The 
gem  and  the  fire  coal  were  brought  and  placed  there  at  once,  and 
the  angel,  unseen  to  all,  took  up  the  coal,  approached  it  to  the 
mouth  of  the  infant,  which  burnt  its  lips  and  made  it  stammer  for- 
ever. Mosis'  life  was  thus  spared  and  he  remained  yet  for  15  years 
at  the  court.  At  the  age  of  18  years,  the  blooming  youth  wished 
to  see  his  parents  and  his  brethren  at  their  slave-labors.  When 
he  saw  an  Egyptian  smiting  a  Hebrew.  The  latter  ran  to  him 
for  help,  beseeching  him :  "Behold  this  man  came  to  my  home  last 
night,  bound  me  with  ropes,  criminally  assaulted  my  wife,  in  my 
very  presence,  and  now  he  wants  yet  to  murder  me."  Whereupon 
Moses  killed  the  Egyptian,  buried  him  in  the  ground  and  returned 
to  the  palace  (Ibid  166). 

Curious !  A  version  of  this  we  find  in  the  story  of  William 
Tell,  the  liberator  of  Switzerland:  A  satellite  of  the  governor, 
Gessler,  was  about  doing  violence  to  the  wife  of  a  farmer,  who 
rescues  her  and  kills  the  rufiian.  He  is  pursued  by  the  governor's 
soldiers,  and  about  being  captured,  when  William  Tell  boldly 
boards  and  rows  him  over  the  stormy  lake  and  lands  him  safely 
where  he  cannot  be  reached.  It  is  probably  an  old  much  used  tale, 
borrowed  by  the  Tell  legend.  Each  poet  shaped  the  story  accord- 
ing to  his  own  taste  and  his  circumstances.  The  Medrash,  wishing 
to  cleanse  Moses  of  the  guilt  of  murder,  represents  the  aggressor 
as  guilty  of  rape  and  adultery,  and  about  to  commit  murder.  For 
this  he  forfeits  his  life,  and  Moses  but  executed  justice  upon 
him.  The  Swiss  folk-lorist  spurned  the  idea  of  suffering  the 
assailant  to  dishonor  one's  wife;  hence  her  husband  kills  him 
even  before  the  crime  is  accomplished.  According  to  Talmudical 
law,  too,  the  husband  is  justified  in  taking  justice  into  his  own 
hands.  It  is  the  natural  right  of  self-defense,  too  often  wrongly 
appealed  to  in  criminal  pleading. 

The  Medrashic  legend  (Ibid.  167)  tells  us  that  Moses  was  de- 
nounced by  Dathan  and  Abiram.  They  were  quarreling  together, 
when  Moses  said  to  the  first :  Wicked  man,  why  doest  thou  smite 
thy  brother?  Then  Dathan,  in  revenge,  denounced  him  to  Pha- 
raoh ;  who  said :  I  had  enough  indulgence  with  that  foundling, 
now  he  must  die  for  his  murder.  Thereupon  the  executioner 
smote  Moses  with  his  sword,  but  his  neck  became  of  marble  and 
the  sword  splintered  and  broke  to  pieces,  whereupon  Moses  fled 


28  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

out  of  the  country.  The  king's  bodyguard,  being  close  by,  was 
bHndfolded  by  an  angel,  and  Moses  escaped  their  vigilance.  He 
was  then  twenty  years  of  age. 

According  to  the  legend,  at  the  hour  when  Moses  was  born,  the 
entire  world  was  filled  with  light.^  The  same  is  said  of  many 
historical  and  many  more  mythical  heroes  of  old.  It  is  claimed  of 
Apollo,  Horus,  and  Bacchus,  of  Zoroaster,  Buddha,  Jesus,  Mo- 
hammed, etc.  Each  aera-making  man  is  born  in  a  dark  cave,  in 
gloomy  and  oppressive  environments,  the  masses  sighing  for  a 
liberator  from  political,  partisan  or  racial  tyranny,  and  at  his  ad- 
vent the  world  becomes  filled  with  light  and  jubilation.  No  reas- 
onable critic  will  begrudge  that  innocent  apotheosis  of  liberators, 
after  a  life  of  sacrifice  and  toil. 

Another  legend,  still  more  curious,  tells  this  (Ibid  168),  follow- 
ing the  mentioned  biography  of  Moses:  Qiqnus,  king  of  Ethi- 
opia, went  to  make  war  upon  Syria.  When  he  left,  a  rebellion 
broke  out  in  his  own  country.  He  returned  home  and  besieged 
his  capital,  risen  against  him.  In  vain  did  he  attack  and  storm 
it  from  different  points,  and  many  of  the  besiegers  fell  in  the 
assault.  Just  then,  Moses,  fleeing  from  Egypt,  came  into  the 
camp  of  Qiqnus.  He  was  20  years  of  age,  tall,  beautiful,  strong 
and  popular,  and  became  the  pet  of  the  court  and  the  army.  The 
king  soon  died  and  the  army  chose  him  as  their  general,  giving 
him  the  wife  of  the  dead  king.  Moses  was  a  heroic  leader  and 
contrived,  by  stratagem,  to  conquer  the  rebellious  capital.  He 
was  then  accepted  as  king,  governed  Ethiopia  for  the  space  of 
forty  years,  and  beat  all  his  enemies.  But  then  his  queen  and  her 
nobles  made  a  conspiracy  against  him,  with  the  object  of  setting 
upon  the  throne  her  son,  by  Qiqnus,  the  rightful  heir.  Moses 
was  induced  to  peaceably  leave  the  throne  to  his  wife's  son, 
Munham.  At  67  years  Moses  left  Ethiopia  and  retired  to  Mid- 
yan,  in  the  Arabian  desert.  There  he  met  Jethro-Reuel  and 
confidentially  told  him  about  his  adventures  in  Egypt  and  Ethi- 
opia. Jethro  thought  to  ingratiate  himself  with  the  enemies  of 
Moses  by  imprisoning  him  for  many  years.  But  Ziporah,  Jethro's 
daughter,  clandestinely  took  care  of  him  and  had  him  fed  and 
clothed,  comfortable  enough,  during  all  the  time  of  his  incarce- 
ration.   Jethro  had  forgotten  him,  thinking  he  was  long  ago  dead. 


iibid.  166.  n-iiN  n^iyn  ^3  N^ona  nc^o  n^ur  ni?e'3  ^ 


MEDRASHIM    ON    MOSES.  29. 

when  Ziporah  called  his  attention  to  him,  after  ten  years.  At  her 
advice  and  intercession,  he  was  released  from  prison  and  set  at 
liberty.  He  then  inaugurated  his  freedom  by  offering  his  thanks- 
givings to  the  God  of  his  fathers,  in  the  garden  of  Jethro's 
mansion,  when  he  beheld  there  sprightly  growing  a  sapphire 
shrub,  in  shape  of  a  staff,  into  which  was  engraven  the  divine 
name.i  He  plucked  it  off,  as  if  a  usual  branch  upon  a  tree,  and 
it  became  a  regular  staff  in  his  hand.  Now  that  staff  is  the 
identical  one  created  contemporaneously  with  the  world  and  had 
its  history.  When  Adam  was  expelled  from  Paradise,  he  took 
that  staff  with  himself  and  passed  it  to  his  successors.  That  staff^ 
came  then  to  Noah,  to  Shem  and  to  his  successors ;  to  Abraham, 
to  Isaac,  to  Jacob  and  to  Joseph.^  When  Joseph  died  and  the 
Egyptians  became  inimical  to  his  house,  his  palace  was  pillaged 
and  the  staff  fell  into  the  hands  of  Jethro-Reuel,  of  Midyan,  then 
a  courtier  in  Egypt.  He  planted  it  in  his  park,  to  become  once 
the  dower  of  Ziporah,  his  daughter.  All  the  valiant  knights  of 
Midyan  tried  their  strength  to  pull  out  that  sacred  plant  and  win 
the  hand  of  the  fair  Ziporah,  but  could  not  succeed,  until  the 
rightful  owner  and  successor  to  Joseph  appeared,  Moses.  He  at 
once  took  hold  of  the  sacred  heirloom,  which  easily  yielded  to  his 
grasp.  Reuel  beholding  that  in  his  hand,  at  once  yielded  Ziporah,. 
too,  to  the  legitimate  owner  of  the  sacred  primordial  staff.  Zip- 
orah became  thus  his  dutiful  wife,  adopting  all  the  pious  ways- 
of  Sarah,  Rebecca,  Rachel  and  Leah.  She  bore  him  two  sons, 
Gershom  and  Eliezer.     (Biography  of  Moses  in  Yalkut.) 

(Pirke  R.  Eliezer)  R.  Aquiba  says:  The  satellites  of  Pharaoh 
used  the  children  of  the  Hebrews  as  bricks  for  their  strongholds 
alternately  with  the  clay  bricks  and  mortar.  "God  heard  their 
shrieks^ — refers  to  that.  They  offered  them  also  as  burnt  sacri- 
fices on  the  altars  of  their  gods,"  is  again  deduced  from  Scrip- 
tural terms.^ 

To  n  M.  3  :1.  "Moses  kept  the  flocks  of  Jethro,"  remarks  R.. 
Isaac:     God  chooses  his  messengers  among  the  humblest,  the 


{^nison  DC'  1 

2See    Messiah    Ideal,    Vol.    I,    p.    122.       riDDn  ^y  iPt^lB'^  inntJ'M   ^ 
"Israel  bowed  on  the  coach,"  others  read:     "Israel  bowed  on  the  staff.. 
Instead  of  hamita,  is  read  by  the  Septuagint  hamate. 

(II  M.,  ii,  24)—    nnpK:  riK  n^nbii  yot^'M  ^ 
':>^'\iin  ni30  nanx  s^vi'i  ^ 


30  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

pastors  of  sheep,  to  lead  his  human  flock.  Even  so  Moses  and 
David — So  Cincinnatus  of  Rome,  so  the  American  Washington, 
the  farmer;  Lincoln,  the  rail-splitter;  such  are  the  leaders  of 
democracy. — "And  he  saw  his  vision  and  heard  the  divine  voice 
from  the  Thornbush  (remarks  the  Medrash  Abkhir)  :  "Why  not 
rather  from  some  noble  tall  tree  ?  For  God  said :  I  am  in  sym- 
pathy with  Israel.  He  is  the  humblest  among  the  nations,  the 
thorn  among  the  tall  trees,  yet  ever  burning.  So  is  the  burning 
Thornbush  my  symbol." — The  Thornbush  burned,  but  was  never 
consumed — is  a  fit  emblem,  too,  of  Israel  enslaved  during  thou- 
sands of  years,  oppressed  and  maltreated,  yet  never  destroyed, 
ever  burning,  enlightening,  cheering  mankind  on  in  its  battles 
for  improvement,  ethical,  political,  economical.  Its  leaders  and 
emancipators  are  taken  from  Israel's  ranks  or  from  those  who 
got  their  inspiration  from  his  prophets. 


31 


Study  II.  EXODUS  IV-VIIL 
MOSES,  THE  PROPHETS,  AND  THEIR  MISSION. 

"God  spake  to  Moses :  Pharaoh's  mind  is  obdurate,  he  refuses 
to  let  My  people  depart.  Go  and  tell  him :  Let  My  people  go,  that 
they  may  worship  Me  in  the  desert."^  (II  M.  VII:  15).  Here 
Mosaism  states  it  to  be  its  mission  to  liberate  the  people,  that  they 
may  devote  themselves  to  God's  service.  Providence  selected  the 
descendants  of  the  Patriarchs,  to  become  the  race  specially  de- 
voted to  the  service  of  the  Eternal,  to  the  higher,  the  religious, 
mental  and  ethical  interests,  the  spiritual  concerns  of  man.  We 
say  the  spiritual  interests  of  humanity,  especially  and  particularly ; 
for  indeed,  the  total  result  of  all  human  development,  termed 
civilization,  is  a  compound  of  many  different  elements,  among 
which  the  spiritual  is  only  one,  though  a  leading  one.-  Every  race, 
every  nation,  yea,  every  outstanding  historical  personality  has  a 
mission  to  fulfill,  has  a  task  imposed  upon  him.  Just  as  in  the 
harmoniously  constituted  community,  one  is  an  agriculturist, 
another  is  a  mechanic,  a  third,  a  merchant,  an  artist,  a  scholar, 
etc.,  even  so  among  the  great,  predominant  nations,  each  has  a 
special  mission  to  realize,  for  which  she  lives  and  labors,  suffers 
and  triumphs.  And  if  she  neglects  her  task,  she  dies,  ignomini- 
ously,  is  eliminated  and  her  place  is  taken  up  by  another  one,  bet- 
ter fitted  for  the  work.  If  she  fulfills  her  duty,  if  her  allotted  task 
is  gradually  being  accomplished,  she  lives  for  and  with  it.  Even 
when  fully  accomplished,  she  dies  not,  but  is  honorably  dis- 
charged, emerited  and  lives,  absorbed  in  the  eternal  existence  of 
mankind.  She  fuses  with  humanity,  leaving  there  an  ineffaceable 
trace,  the  imprint  of  her  honorable  activity. 

Such  tasks  were  imposed  upon  all  the  leading  historic  nations. 
Assyria,  Persia,  Egypt,  Babylonia  had  the  consolidation  of  tribes 
into  peoples,  by  war  and  subjugation.  They  inaugurated,  thou- 
sands of  years  ago,  Bismarck's  policy  of  kneading  and  cementing 
men  together  by  lead  and  blood.  Greece  added  to  war  the  culti- 
vation of  science  and  art.     Rome  organized  a  world-state  and 


'jnan  'f^]}  na  n.->Er 


32  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

framed  laws  as  its  cement.  Phoenicia  and  Carthage,  as  modern 
Holland  and  England,  developed  navigation,  commerce  and  in- 
dustries. Germany  is,  originally,  devoted  to  science,  arts,  music 
and  domestic  virtues.  Amerca  is  to  freedom  of  conscience,  social 
equality  and  liberty. 

And  Israel,  our  text  says,  and  history  corroborates,  has  been 
consecrated  to  ethical,  mental  and  spiritual  interests ;  he  is  the 
devotee  of  spiritual  development :  "Send  My  people  to  serve  Me." 
Let  us  not  exaggerate;  no  infatuation  and  no  chauvinism,  no 
claiming  the  whole  of  the  work.  I  do  not  in  the  least  pretend  that 
the  Hebrew  race  has  done  everything.  No,  other  historic  nations, 
too,  have  largely  contributed  towards  our  civilization.  Nor  is 
our  civilization  the  ultima  Thule,  without  any  strong  reliques  of 
barbarism.  Still,  without  infatuation,  we  may  positively  affirm 
that  Israel's  part  in  the  great  concert  of  human  culture  and  de- 
velopment is  a  very  prominent  one,  yea,  it  is  the  groundwork  of 
all  true  civilization.  He  represents  its  moral  base  and  founda- 
tion. Without  the  culture  of  man's  spiritual  interests,  to  what 
great  use  are  our  arts  and  commerce?  Upon  what  pillars  will 
your  State,  your  Laws,  your  family,  your  freedom,  your  justice 
rest?  Without  the  postulate  of  the  one,  all-pervading,  eternal, 
all-holy  God  of  justice,  truth  and  reason,  the  very  law  of  society, 
the  Ten  Commandments,  lose  their  authority,  drift  in  the  air  and 
lack  effectiveness.  And  without  the  Ten  Commandments  human 
society  is  an  impossibility;  society  would  be  one  of  wolves  and 
bears.  Now  the  God-belief,  the  Decalogue,  the  teaching  and 
examplifying  thereof,  is  the  historic  task  and  problem  of  Israel. 
Therefore  I  claim  and  justly  insist  that  he  represents  the  first  part 
in  civilization.  Therefore  it  may  be  taken  literally:  Israel  is 
My  first-born  son.  (II  M.  4 :21  and  19  :6. .  .  )  "Ye  shall  be  unto  Me 
a  dominion  of  priests  and  a  holy  nation."  He  is  priest,  leader  and 
messiah  of  mankind. 

The  acute,  spirited,  paradoxical  philosopher,  Nietzsche,  the 
most  outspoken  antagonist,  the  very  opposite  pole  of  the  Hebraic 
doctrine,  nevertheless,  frankly  admits  that  the  Jews  have  well 
deserved  of  mankind,  for  having  produced  men  as  Moses,  Jesus, 
Spinoza;  books  and  ethics  as  Bible  and  Psalms,  and  for  having 
suffered  a  fifteen  centuries'  martyrdom  just  on  their  account. 
(Menschliches,  Allzumenschliches,  by  Nietzsche.) 

And  this  honor  of  the  messiahship,  so  onerous  and  so  glorious, 
so  cheering  and  so  sad,  this  epopee  of  the  Exodus  narrates  how  it 


MOSES,  THE  PROPHETS  AND  THEIR   MISSION.  33 

has  been  conferred  upon  the  patriarchal  house.  Here  is  the 
genesis  of  his  primogeniture,  the  sacred  record  of  his  spiritual 
investiture.  The  promise  to  Abraham:  "In  thy  seed  shall  all 
the  generations  of  the  earth  be  blessed"  (Gen.  10),  begins  here 
to  be  realized.  These  chapters  depict  in  quick  strokes  and  suc- 
cinct sketches,  the  great  difficulties  under  which  that  world-his- 
torical appointment  took  place.  "Let  My  people  go,  that  they 
may  serve  Me  in  the  wilderness,"  in  this  wild  struggle  for  ex- 
istence; that  by  their  cultivating  man's  ethical  and  spiritual 
elements,  they  became  the  pioneers  of  a  higher  civilization  than 
that  handed  down  by  Phoenicia,  Babylonia  or  Egypt.  This  means 
our  text.  Juda  had  the  task  of  clearing  the  wild  forests  of  bar- 
barism, of  removing  the  rubbish  of  paganism,  of  popular  igno- 
rance and  superstitions,  of  implanting  the  seeds  of  truth,  rea- 
son, fraternity  and  justice  unto  all,  of  teaching  the  fatherhood 
of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  men,  inculcating  human  dignity 
and  spirituality. 

"Send  forth  My  people  that  they  shall  serve  Me  in  the  wilderness," 
is  the  motto  of  the  Hebrew's  mission,  the  formula  of  his  Investi- 
ture. Let  them  go  forth  and  civilize  the  world.  Let  them  scat- 
ter and  spread  over  the  earth  and  teach  the  pure  God  belief,  the 
Ten  Words,  the  one  human  race,  sympathy  and  justice  to  fellow- 
men.  This  Israel  taught  and  acted  upon,  he  alone  was  sincere, 
others  were  politic. 

ISRAEL'S  MESSIANIC  CAREER. 

Over  3,500  years  ago  the  patriarchal  people  was  entrusted 
with  the  arduous  role  of  the  messiahship.  It  was  crowned  and 
sceptered  and  enthroned,  alas !  with  a  crown  of  thorns,  sparkling 
with  the  gems  of  his  tears,  his  scepter  was  the  staff  of  emigration 
and  exile,  of  the  homeless  wanderer ;  his  throne  was,  century  after 
century,  the  pillory  and  the  funeral  pile,  in  the  regal  robes  pur- 
pled with  his  own  blood ;  running  the  career  of  self-sacrifice, 
tribulation  and  obloquy.  Thus  he  was  proclaimed  messiah-king 
and  pariah,  teacher  and  first  born  son  of  civilization ;  to  him  was 
given  over  the  kingdom,  not  of  this  bodily  world,  but  that  of 
the  spirit,  of  mind. 

"Go  unto  Pharaoh  and  tell  him,  the  Eternal  God  of  the  Patri- 
archs has  sent  me  to  thee,  saying:    Let  go  My  people,  that  they 


34  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

serve  Me  in  the  wilderness.  But  behold,  thou  hast  until  now  re- 
fused to  obey."  Pharaoh,  the  type  of  paganism,  materialism,  con- 
servatism, the  proudest  flower  of  the  antique  world,  answered 
(II  M.,  5:2)  :  Who  is  Ihvh,  the  Eternal,  whom  I  should  obeypi 
So  the  pagan  world  has  been  since  answering  Israel:  What  do 
you  speak  to  us  of  eternal,  spiritual  matters,  of  culture,  virtue 
and  civilization;  of  humanity  and  holiness,  we  know  nothing 
about  that!  We  care  for  conquests  and  armies,  finances  and 
pleasures,  for  good  cheer  and  luxury,  for  warfare,  additional 
provinces  and  power.  Let  us  alone  with  your  spiritual  con- 
cerns ! 

So  spoke  the  world  three  thousand  years  ago.  And  the  world 
would  to  this  day,  as  three  thousands  of  years  ago  speak  the 
same :  "Who  is  Ihvh — Adonay — that  we  should  listen  unto  his 
voice?"  What  do  we  care  for  all  your  spiritual  interests  and 
concerns  ?  Civilization  means  to  us  power  and  good  cheer  and  an 
independent  fortune.  So  they  would  speak,  if  it  were  not  for 
Israel's  call,  "Send  My  people  to  serve  Me  in  the  wilderness ;" 
if  not  for  the  heavy  mission,  the  efforts,  the  great  services  the 
Hebrew  has  rendered  to  civilization,  to  human  advance  and  en- 
lightenment ;  if  it  were  not  for  the  Ten  Words  taught  by  him. 

Nay,  I  will  affirm  even  more.  The  world  is  even  now,  3,500 
years  after  the  Exodus,  clamoring  for  the  same:  "Who  is  your 
Eternal?"  What  are,  indeed,  your  spiritual  interests?  We  care 
for  power  and  good  cheer — all  other  things  are  either  subservient, 
useless  or  hypocritical !  That  is  the  cant  and  the  trend  of  popular 
philosophems.  And  what  is  the  outcome  of  the  recent  labors  of 
Schopenhauer,  Hartman,  Nietzsche?  Not  much  more!  Woe  to 
the  people,  woe  to  present  civilization,  should  such  views  prevail ! 
Look  around,  let  us  muster  history.  Who  is  the  champion 
and  support  of  the  present  civilization,  of  spirituality,  pro- 
gress, humane  education,  freedom,  work  and  bread  for  all? 
Who  is  the  backbone,  the  Swiss-guard  thereof?  It  is  the  minori- 
ty, the  chosen  few  among  the  nations,  the  spiritual  and  mental 
aristocracy  among  the  peoples ;  not  the  men  of  the  robe,  privilege 
or  sword.     And   this   true,  mental   aristocracy,   simply,   are   the 


iln  the  nomenclature  of  Egyptian  mythology,  apparently,  that  august 
name  was  missing,  but  it  was  included  in  the  Babylonian  calendar, 
god  Ea,  the  just,  good  and  wise,  the  builder  and  friend  of  man.  See 
on  that;  my  Humanity  and  Charity  Laws  of  Pentateuch  and  Talmud. 
Se«  Sayce:     Babylonian  Religion. 


ISRAEL'S  MESSIANIC  CAREER.  35 

extended  Israel,  the  Israel  lapping  and  gaining  over  into  his  ranks 
the  best  and  noblest  of  mankind.  "The  Sons  of  Japheth  resting 
in  the  tents  of  Shem.i  In  these  Shemitic  tents  they  have  learned 
the  true  objects  of  human  existence,  viz :  Not  power  and  good 
cheer,  but,  "Let  the  people  go  free,  that  they  serve  Me." 
Clear  away  the  impediments  of  education,  growth,  mentality, 
bread-winning,  physical  and  ethical  well-being.  Thus  Israel's 
problem  is  not  yet  solved  and  accomplished.  He  and  his  Gentile 
allies  are  still  a  small  minority.  Only  then  will  his  mission  be 
fulfilled  when  mankind,  the  masses,  will  accept  and  realize  his 
platform.    Let  us  expound  this ;  it  is  well  worth  while. 

THE  REPLY  AND  ITS  REFUTATION. 

The  Gentile  world  has  been  replying  to  this  for  these  many 
centuries :  "True,  the  Hebraic  people  has  been  the  depository 
of  the  Sinaic  Revelation.  True,  they  have  brought  great  sacri- 
fices to  this  their  mission,  and  we  readily  acknowledge  that  they 
have  2,000  years  ago  well  deserved  of  humanity.  But  since  that 
time  a  new  doctrine,  a  higher  revelation  has  dawned  upon  the 
world.  The  entire  genius  of  the  Semitic  race  has  been  concen- 
trated, focalized  in  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  a  Hebrew  according  to  the 
flesh,  and  God  himself  according  to  the  spirit;  he  brought  down 
the  last  revelation,  the  higher  teaching,  the  salvation,  Chris- 
tianity, not  Judaism,  is  the  Law.  The  Jews,  not  recognizing  this 
fact,  nor  himself  as  God,  Redeemer,  Christ,  have  forfeited  all 
their  claims,  rights  and  privileges  as  the  chosen  people,  their 
law  is  abolished,  their  role  of  the  messiahship  has  passed  away 
to  New  Judaism,  to  Christianity,  which  has  since  taken  up  their 
part ;  Christianity,  not  Judaism,  has  become  the  true  expounder 
of  the  Bible,  old  and  new,  has  made  triumphant  the  Decalogue, 
and  has  taken  up  the  work  of  civilization.  We  have  conquered 
for  it  three  hundred  millions  of  pagans,  we  have  made  it  the  relig- 
ion of  the  world,  the  salvation  of  mankind.  You,  Jews,  have 
suffered,  cruelly  suffered;  we  are  sorry,  but  we  are  not  respon- 
sible for  it;  you  suffered  for  having  rejected  the  Lord  Jesus,  the 
Christ.  The  Bible  is  triumphant  without  you,  and  you  can  now 
go  and  disappear;  you  belong  to  the  past.  So  Schleiermacher  ta 
Harnack. 


I  M.,  ix,  26.        DtJ*  ^^nK3  pSK'"")  nSi'-?  Cn^XHS'l 


36  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

The  refutation  of  the  trinitarian  argument  may  be  formulated 
thus:  True,  the  Gentiles  have  propagated  the  Bible  all  over  the 
world  in  the  West,  but  they  have  added  to  it  a  most  cumbersome 
and  doubtful  appendage :  The  New  Testament.  What  is  the 
New  Testament,  critically  examined?  It  is :  A  number  of  small 
homiletic  treatises,  the  remnants  of  a  larger  number  lost  since; 
containing  many  good  things,  many  mediocre  and  many  danger- 
ous, hard,  out  of  the  way,  entirely  foreign  to  the  original  scheme, 
yea,  in  part,  in  flagrant  contradiction  with  it ;  coming  from  many 
diverse  hands,  ages  and  vastly  different  systems,  all  super-and 
interfused  with  miracles  and  impossibilities,  not  as  corollaries  and 
mere  paraphernalia,  but  as  its  backbone  and  substance ;  with  hard- 
ly any  new,  rational,  substantial  idea;  what  is  good  is  not  new 
and  what  is  new  is  not  good ;  the  offspring  of  an  ill-suited  inter- 
marriage of  Hebrew  spirit  with  Alexandrian  Neo-Platonism, 
Egyptian  and  Greek  mythology,  lastly  hailing  from  Hinduism 
and  Parseeism ;  with  economics,  ethics,  a  state,  a  community,  a 
church,  half  Judaic  and  half  East-Asiatic  ;i  with  no  work,  no 
property,  no  family,  no  marriage;  relying  on  a  God  of  love  and 
of — wrath,  on  faith  in  miracles,  rejecting  nature  as  the  creature 
of  the  devil,  with  despair  for  all,  original  sin  and  hell  for  most, 
the  earth  a  dale  of  sorrow,  and  salvation  reserved  but  for  the 
exceptional  few,  for  whom  a  Man-God  died  on  the  Cross;  a 
God  of  love  and  also  of — hell  and  original  sin ;  a  system  come  out 
by  a  hap-hazard  compromise  between  Bible,  Neoplatonism,  My- 
thology and  Hindu-Persian  philosophems.  This  is  the  New  Testa- 
ment, the  "Bible,"  propagated  by  Christianity,  the  New  Judaism. 
True,  Gentiles  made  triumphant  the  Decalogue  with  300  millions 
of  pagans,  but  they  have  stricken  out  the  most  prominent  feature 
thereof,  the  very  base  with  which  it  stands  and  falls :  "I  am  the 
Eternal,  thy  God.  Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  besides  Me." 
Instead  thereof,  they  teach  trinity,  incarnation,  atonement,  ascen- 
sion and  hell  unquenchable.  True,  they  have  conquered  part  of 
the  globe  to  that  doctrine — but  not  by  reason  and  conviction,  but 
by  violence  and  bribery,  by  missionaries  followed  by  cannon  and 
political  supremacy. 

1  Among  others,  Nietzsche  reproaches  Christianity  with  having 
■brought  over  Asiatic  ideas  to  the  West.  He  exaggerates.  The  Judaic 
part  of  the  New  Testament  is  sober,  rational,  Biblic.  It  is  Paul  and 
his  late  Alexandrian  successors  who  introduced  oriental  views  and 
dogmas  into  the  Occident,  the  Hellenic  Christianity. 


THE  REPLY   AND   ITS   REFUTATION.  37 

Constantine,  called  the  Great,  lived  a  heathen  and  died  a  nominal 
Christian,  for  political  reasons.  Chlodowig,  the  Frank,  lived  and 
died  in  the  same  way ;  so  Theodorus,  the  Visigoth  king ;  and  even 
so  Charlemagne.  He  converted  all  the  Saxons — who  would  not  be 
drowned  in  the  river !  Such  a  convert  was  Wittikind  himself,  the 
prince  of  the  Saxons,  the  baptismal  fount  or  the  river  was  the 
choice.  The  missionary  societies  carry  the  Bible  in  one  hand, 
and  in  the  other,  powder  and  shot.  When,  forty  years  ago.  Rev. 
Stern  did  not  succeed  in  Abyssinia,  the  English  fleet  and  guns 
were  sent  to  assist  him.  The  son  of  her  King  Theodorus,  a  war- 
prisoner  in  London,  has  been  thus  converted !  The  missionaries 
penetrate  the  steppes  of  Tartary,  Thibet  and  China,  invade  the 
Sahara  of  Africa  and  explore  the  wilds  of  America — reading 
from  the  Bible  to  their  novices  and  pagans,  glancing  with  one 
eye  to  their  salaries,  squinting  with  the  other  at  the  armies  behind 
them,  and  paving,  in  the  name  of  God,  the  way  for  dominion,  con- 
quest, rapine,  gunpowder,  opium  and  fire-water.  This  for  the 
trinitarian  conversions  abroad. 

Kind  reader !  you  will  remember,  we  are  here  discussing  facts, 
history,  truths,  so  we  must  be  frank,  not  palliate,  but  call  things 
by  their  names.  Now  the  christologist  will  object ;  These  are 
mysteries,  supernatural  dogmas  and  views,  and  human  reason 
is  no  criterion  here.  To  this  we  remember  Nachmanides,  a  Span- 
ish erudite,  in  controversy  with  a  monk,  on  the  same  subject,  the 
monk  pleading  that  even  the  angels  cannot  understand  the  mys- 
teries of  trinity.  Coolly  Nachmanides  replied :  Well,  if  the  angels 
cannot  understand  it,  how  should  we  mortals-  do?"  We  there- 
fore abide  by  the  verse,  iv  Moses  29 :  25 :  Mysteries  belong  to 
God,  plain  common  sense  to  us  and  our  children. 

RELIGIOUS,  SOCIAL  AND  POLITICAL  OUTLOOK. 

As  to  the  trinitarian  civilization  at  home,  during  the  one  thou- 
sand years  intervening  between  the  ancient  and  the  modern 
times,  Christendom  was  rather  inferior  to  the  Mohammedan 
Orient.  King,  baron  and  bishop  equally  debauched  and  crushed 
the  mass  of  the  people.  Few  schools,  no  roads,  no  safety,  little 
industry  and  commerce,  plenty  of  monasteries,  with  idleness,  cant,, 
tithes  and  privileges,  but  no  rights  for  the  people ;  wars  among 
the  princes  and  mad  crusades  against  the  infidels ;  fierce  competi- 
tion between  the  spiritual  and  the  secular  heads,  between  Pope  and 


38  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

king  ever  distracted  the  Church  and  the  State,  But  even  modern 
times  did  not  fare  much  better.  Let  us  mention  a  striking- 
sample  thereof  in  Europe,  the  flower  of  that  civilization.  Only  a 
generation  ago  some  600  princes  of  the  Roman  Church  assembled 
in  council,  at  the  Vatican,  and  promulgated  the  syllabus  of  their 
Church,  as  formulated  by  them.  They  anathematized  everything 
truly  great  and  humane.  All  the  noblest  acquisitions  of  the  mod- 
ern spirit  were  proscribed  and  held  up  at  the  index.  They  de- 
clared man's  liberty,  civil  and  social  equality,  free  conscience,  re- 
ligious toleration,  a  free  State,  universal  education,  separation 
of  Church  from  State,  freedom  of  the  press,  of  speech  and  of 
thought,  all  that  was  declared  impious  and  sacriligious ;  heresy, 
error  and  damnation.  Blind  faith  and  obedience,  alone,  were 
affirmed  as  leading  to  salvation.  They  wanted  a  world  under  the 
happy  rule  of  the  Jesuits  and  the  inquisiton,  under  the  guardian- 
ship of  an  infallible  chief — a  man  who  never  fails !  Where  is 
such  a  man  to  be  had?  Such  a  man,  the  Assembly  declared,  is 
the  Pope — as  long  as  the  bayonets  of  Napoleon  III.  protected  him 
against  his  own  people ! 

What  is  now  the  political  aspect  of  that  trinitarian  civiliza- 
tion? A  generation  ago  the  two  most  advanced  countries  of 
Europe  were  set  at  deadly  feud  with  one  another.  Two  ambi- 
tious men,  each  working  for  his  own  aggrandizement  and  for 
dynastic  or  private  interests,  each  trying  to  eclipse  the  other, 
had  abetted  two  generous  nations  against  each  other;  for  mere 
ambition  they  placed  the  arms  of  destruction  into  the  hands  of  two 
sister-nations.  They  have  converted  France,  the  vainglorious,  but 
generous,  impulsive  France,  the  garden  of  Europe,  into  a  human 
slaughterhouse,  soon  a  social  volcano,  ever  ready  to  explode.  They 
have  spread  mourning  and  desolation  over  half  the  globe  with 
myriads  of  orphans,  lonely  mothers  and  widows,  all  for  mere 
personal  ambition. 

And  what  is  our  social  aspect  now,  in  1909?  Social  upheavals, 
universal  unrest,  camps,  navies,  dreadnaughts,  crushing  imposts 
for,  and  abject  poverty  of  the  masses  ;  affrontery  and  overbearing, 
gloomy  misgivings  and  threats  of  the  classes ;  all  the  wealth  on 
one  side,  all  the  wretchedness  on  the  other;  zvith  trusts,  monster 
companies,  on  one  side,  and  the  defying  unions  of  workingmen 
on  the  other,  both  menacing  society ;  the  plutocrat  and  the  popu- 

Maurice  Fluegel's  Exodus,  Moses  and  the  Decalogue. 


RELIGIOUS,  SOCIAL  AND  POLITICAL  OUTLOOK.  39 

lar  leader,  at  each  other's  throat;  pauperization,  death  and  an- 
archy staring  into  our  faces.  Really  it  is  the  age  of  dynamite 
and  bombshells,  a  silent  civil  war,  each  trying  to  overreach  and 
take  advantage;  yearly  plentiful  harvests,  still  daily  raising  the 
price  of  bread,  meat,  all  the  necessaries ;  no  consideration  for  the 
next ;  hammer  or  anvil !  It  looks  as  if  on  the  eve  of  a  social 
revolution  by  the  fourth  Estate;  the  mass  of  the  people,  the  work- 
men, the  laborers,  the  disinherited  lowly  masses  ask  for  their 
share.  They  will  no  longer  be  pariahs,  but  gentlemen !  Thus  war, 
paper-money,  fluctuation  in  the  street,  the  market,  in  commerce  and 
industries,  at  the  Exchange  and  the  royal  cabinets,  fierce  compe- 
tition, remorseless,  pitiless,  legalized  war,  not  with  the  sword,  but 
with  crime,  poison,  cunning  and  stratagem.  This  is  our  civiliza- 
tion!   This  you  call  Christian  ascendancy! 

This  is  the  boastful  civilization  in  Church,  society  and  State. 
This  is  the  vaunted  doctrine  and  these  its  effects,  the  seed  and  its 
fruit.  This  is  the  way  that  the  New  Covenant  has  outstripped  the 
old  one ;  in  that  manner  have  they  made  the  Bible  triumphant, 
have  they  conquered  three  hundred  millions  of  men  for  the 
Decalogue  and  the  true  faith.  In  that  sense  did  they  do  the 
work  of  human  improvement.  In  that  sense  did  they  appropri- 
ate to  themselves  the  mission  of  Israel,  did  they  realize  the  call 
of  "Send  forth  My  people  to  serve  Me !"  O,  a  Decalogue,  with- 
out its  base:  "I  am  the  Eternal,  thy  God?"  Monotheism  and 
Trinity?  A  spiritual  God  and  Incarnation?  A  God  of  love  and 
— everlasting  hell?  An  Eternal  God — who  died  and  was  resur- 
rected? 

O,  Gentiles,  the  Hebrew  Bible  teaches :  "God  made  the  World." 
He  saw  and  all  was  well  done;  "Man  is  created  in  God's  image," 
viz :  man  is  rational,  free  and  responsible ;  vice  and  virtue,  moral 
happiness  and  misfortune  depend  upon  himself;  the  world  is 
made  for  the  glory  of  the  Creator,^  and  the  well-being  of  the 
creatures.  There  is  no  devil  and  no  hell  in  God's  creation.  Man 
creates  with  sin  his  own  hell.  The  trinitarian  theology  teaches : 
Man  and  the  world  are  radically  corrupt,  and  cannot  be  saved 
except  by  miraculous  grace.  Man  is  the  victim  of  metaphysical, 
external  agents,  which  make  him  vicious  and  unhappy  in  spite 
of  himself;  happiness  is  but  a  rare  chance!     Nevertheless  man's 


1  Psalm  xix.,  2.    The  heavens  proclaim  the  glory  of  the  All-Power. 


40  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

compulsory,  native  viciousness  is  punished  with  eternal  hell-fire — 
except  if  God  chooses  to  redeem  him  by  his  own  blood !  That 
is  diabolical !  That  is  rank  pessimism,  old  heathen,  Hindu  fatal- 
ism. That  is  a  doctrine  of  despair.  That  is  old  cruel  Baal  and 
Moloch  mythology !  What  crude  conception  of  divine  wisdom 
and  justice!  What. poverty  of  doctrine,  what  confusion  and  what 
logic?  The  starting  point,  Trinity,  is  untenable  and  hence  all  its 
sequels :  original  sin,  vicarious  atonement,  miraculous  redemp- 
tion, etc.  Not  Nazareth  taught  that,  but  Paul ;  that  is  old,  Asiatic 
fatalism.  Eternal  hell-fires,  universal  damnation,  pessimism  and 
infallibility,  are  the  train  of  trinitarianism. 

Thus  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  New  Testament  has  not  out- 
stripped the  Old  Testament,  the  New-Jews  have  not  well  respond- 
ed to  the  call  of  "Let  My  people  go  forth  and  serve  Me."  Israel 
cannot  yet  fuse  with  the  majority.  Israel  belongs  not  yet  to  the 
past.  He  has  yet  to  struggle,  teach  and  exemplify,  he  cannot  yet 
depose  his  armor.  His  missionary  work  is  not  at  an  end,  the  wil- 
derness is  yet  barren.  Half  of  the  Gospel  is  Biblic,  the  other  half 
is  Alexandrian,  both  stand  in  flagrant  contradiction  to  each  other. 
As  Nietzsche  says :  "Jesus  tried  to  rationalize  the  West,  Paul 
and  the  Nicaean   Council  rendered  it  Asiatic,  mystic." 

The  Gentile  world  has  learned  Biblical  lessons,  but  it  is  far  from 
practicing  them.  The  best,  the  select  ones,  have  learned  them,  but 
not  yet  the  masses.  The  best  have  learned  them,  but  they  do  not 
govern  our  society.  Society  is  ruled  as  yet  by  brutality,  cun- 
ning and  over-reaching:  England  wants  India.  Russia  and  Ja- 
pan covet  China.  France  desires  North  Africa.  Germany 
squints  at  Austria.  England  looks  after  the  Dardanelles ;  Egypt, 
the  Soudan.  The  United  States  of  North  America,  built  up 
upon  the  new  principle  of  industry  and  work,  not  intrigue,  war 
and  conquest — the  United  States  plunged  into  war  with  Spain 
and,  annexed  on  its  way,  the  out-of-the-way  Philippines — a  very 
millstone  upon  its  own  free  neck,  to  become  its  dangerous 
Achilles'  heel,  exposing  itself  to  entangling  risks,  alliances  and 
complications,  foreign  wars  and  standing  armies,  the  very  oppo- 
site of  the  wise  polity  of  Washington,  Franklin,  Monroe,  all.  As 
an  ofifset,  England  exterminated  the  heroic  Boers  and  annexed 
their  territory,  the  future  United  States  of  South  Africa.  Capital 
enslaves  the  workingmen,  the  department  store  swallows  up  the 
retailer  and  the  crafts ;  the  unscrupulous  supplant  the  honest 
ones.     The  industries  are  oscillating,  for  so  is  the  paper-money 


IS  ISRAEL  TRUE  TO  HIS  TASK?  41 

— a  dangerous  social  dilemma!  Thus  the  world  has  learned  the 
lessons  of  prophetism,  but  it  does  not  practice  them.  Hence  is 
Israel's  part  not  yet  accomplished.  He  cannot  retire  without  en- 
dangering his  mission,  the  practical,  real  improvement  and  frater- 
nization of  mankind :  the  fatherhood  of  God,  the  brotherhood  of 
man.  He  retiring,  the  liberal  party  among  the  world's  nations 
will  collapse,  he  being  their  nursery  and  nucleus.  Hence  he 
must  stay  and  insist  upon  his  task. 

But  you  smile.  Gentile  reader,  asking:  Is  Israel  really  so  ideal? 
Is  he  insisting  upon  his  task  ?  Does  he  execute  it,  in  fact  and  in 
theory,  in  the  Decalogue,  the  prophetic  ethics,  their  broad  un- 
clouded humanitarianism,  reverence  to  God,  justice  and  love  to 
fellowmen?  Is  the  Jew  a  whit  better  than  the  Gentile?  Does 
he  not  look  to  his  worldly  interests,  even  more  than  to  his  spirit- 
ual mission  ? . .  .  Dear  brother  Gentile  reader,  I  am  not  infatuated 
with  all  the  peculiarities  of  my  monotheistic  brethren,  I  am  no 
chauvinist.  I  know  their  many  faults  and  shortcomings  and 
deeply  deplore  them.  But  listen,  these  salient,  ugly  features,  these 
abnormal  faults  and  vices  are  not  native  to  the  Jew ;  they  are  the 
sediment  of  two  thousand  years  of  exile.  The  Jew's  virtues  are 
his  own ;  his  vices  are  the  world's.  These  harsh  excrescences  are 
the  direct  outgrowth,  the  necessary  and  logical  consequences  of 
the  world's  treatment  of  the  Jew.  Such  treatment  exercised 
upon  any  other  people,  would  have  produced  by  far  more  dire 
results.  The  Decalogue,  the  prophetic  ethics  ever  uplifted  him; 
the  cruel,  inhuman  ostracism  degraded  and  corrupted  him;  the 
result  is  the  clear,  historical  outcome!  The  nations  have  by  far 
better  Jews  than  they  deserve.  Can  you.  Gentile  nations,  justly 
and  reasonably  complain  of  your  own  work,  and  hold  the  victim 
responsible  for  your  perpetrations?  Do  you  ever  respect  him 
for  his  virtues — or  for  his  vices?  for  his  self-sacrifice,  talent, 
learning — or  for  his  gold?  The  maligned,  belittled,  traduced 
patriarchal  community  meekly  replies  to  its  critics  with  a  known, 
pregnant  verse  from  Solomon's  song  (I,  6)  :  "Look  not  disdain- 
fully on  me  that  I  am  so  blackened ;  the  sun  has  burnt  me.  My 
brother-nations  were  angry  with  me;  they  made  me  the  watch- 
man of  others'  vineyards,  my  own  I  could  not  watch." — An 
exile  of  nearly  two  thousand  years,  an  antagonism  of  three  thou- 
sand, and  a  Ghetto  of  five  hundred;  the  inquisiton,  the  torture, 


43  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE, 

the  dunghill  as  his  table,  the  Yellow  Patch  and  the  discriminating 
Draconian  laws — such  dragon's  teeth  you  have  sewed — and  you 
expect  now  that  every  individual  of  this  martyr  people  should 
be  immaculate  !    Is  not  that  ridiculous,  monstrous,  diabolic ! 

Anti-Semites,  you  claim :  The  Jew  is  not  better.  "Did  you 
suffer  him  to  be  better?"  Did  you  grant  him  free  development? 
If  you  plant  on  barren  soil,  allow  no  water,  sun,  air,  space  and 
proper  cultivation,  are  you  justified  in  expecting  a  cedar  of  Leba- 
non? 

But  more !  In  spite  of  the  long,  cruel  exile,  Israel  is  yet,  by  far, 
better  than  one  could  presume.  Muster  human  annals  and  show 
me  a  single  example  of  a  people  maltreated  as  he,  and  for  such 
a  lapse  of  time,  and  I  will  prove  to  you  the  great  superiority  of 
the  prophetic  people,  even  the  victims  of  the  Ghetto :  Here  are 
colossal  Russia  and  puny  Roumania  that  treat  their  Jews  as 
Pharaoh  did  of  old.  The  nations  around,  claiming  the  Bible  and 
Nazareth  as  their  guides — shrug  their  shoulders  and  keep  quiet! 
And  the  Jews — a  few  drops  of  water  could  end  all  their  millennial 
miseries — the  Jews  meekly  bear  and  refuse  to  sacrifice  their  con- 
science. They  submit  to  pogroms,  starvation,  pillage,  rape,  mur- 
der— or  to  exile  and  poverty  in  strange  lands ;  they  sacrifice  all 
worldly  human  happiness  to  ideal  goods,  conscientious  scruples! 
Say,  you  Anti-Semites,  can  you  do  the  same?  Look  at  that  poor, 
long-bearded  uncultured  Polander,  who,  during  a  lifetime,  sat 
on  the  Russian  dunghill,  bargaining,  haggling  his  rags  for  a  crust 
of  bread  for  wife  and  children,  daily  exposed  to  the  kicks  and 
the  robberies  of  the  Russian  police — he  leaves  his  Egypt  and 
Pharaoh,  leaves  his  hut  and  pittance,  and  with  wife  and  children 
begs  his  way  into  exile..  . 

Are  they  not  heroes  ?  Heroes  in  the  noblest  sense  of  the  term  ? 
For  conviction,  conscience,  freedom?  Is  that  not  the  very  spirit 
of  prophetism?  Can  you  sneer  at  them,  taunt  them  for  their 
worldliness,  their  mercenary  propensities?  Are  they  not  true  de- 
scendants of  Micha,  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  of  the  nation  of  martyrs? 
Do  you  not  revere  your  Jesus,  Peter,  John,  for  the  very  same 
traits?  Why,  then,  do  you  not  respect  these  same  traits  in  their 
brethren,  the  very  present,  exiled,  maligned  Jews?  But,  you  say, 
not  every  Jew  is  a  Jesus,  Peter,  or  Paul?  Surely  not,  but  neither 
is  every  Gentile  of  such  a  calibre!  Least  of  all  are  you  such 
ideals,  O  ye  anti-Semitic  hypocrites !  "Ye  seek  for  the  splinter  in 
your  neighbor's  eye  and  overlook  the  beam  in  your  own," 


MISSION    OF   CHRISTIANITY.  43 

Thus  we  have  seen  that  Israel's  mission  is  not  yet  accomplished, 
the  Decalogue  is  still  a  mere  theory. 

What  then  is  Christianity  ?  What  is  its  task  ?  Has  it  failed  ?  Is 
it  a  historical  anomaly  ?  No  !  What  is,  is  relatively,  rational  and 
good.  It  has  its  full  raison  (T  etre.  Christianity  is  a  powerful  and 
necessary  link  in  mankind's  development.  It  is  an  indispensable 
link  in  the  chain,  but  not  its  final  scope.  Christianity  is  the 
providential  bridge  over  which  the  Gentile  world  is  passing, 
visibly,  clearly,  to  the  pure  doctrine  of  the  Biblical  prophets,  of 
prophetic  Judaism.  The  Christian  world  is  surely  not  yet  the 
New  Jerusalem,  but  it  is  to  become  so^  gradually.  Prophetic 
Judaism  is  too  lofty,  too  pure,  too  rational,  too  ideal  for  the 
uneducated  crowd.  Both,  its  doctrines  and  its  methods,  are  above 
the  horizon  of  the  masses,  even  of  the  Jewish,  rabbinical  masses. 
Hence  the  innumerable  forms  and  observances  of  the  Talmud. 
Old  Israel  himself  needed  the  schooling  of  ten  centuries  before 
the  religion  of  Isaiah,  Micha,  Psalms,  became  intelligible  to  him. 
Even  since  that,  he  needed  the  hedges  and  crutches  and  handles 
of  the  rabbinical  ceremonialism  to  reach  it.  What  a  bitter  strug- 
gle had  not  Maimonides  and  his  successors  against  Jewish,  crude 
misconceptions  of  Mosaism  ?  Even  so  the  Gentile  world,  it  needed 
and  needs  such  a  long  and  wearisome  apprenticeship,  a  prepara- 
tory school,  teaching  the  plain  doctrines  of  the  Prophets  with  a 
strong  alloy  of  inherited  notions,  remnants  of  ancient  paganism, 
before  it  will  become  ripe  for  pure  prophetic  monotheism.  That 
intermediate  school  of  apprenticeship,  between  the  present  and 
the  ancient  mythic  times,  is  Christianity.  The  ancient  world  could 
not  pass  at  once  to  Judaism.  Jesus  and  the  Apostles  could  not 
bring  about  this  sudden  transition.  Paul  and  more  so,  his  suc- 
cessors under  Constantine,  and  the  Council  of  Nicaea  (325) 
created  trinitarian  Christianity,  a  compromise  between  Egypto- 
Greek  mythology  and  Mosaism.  That  the  Gentile  masses  accepted 
and  that  is  trinitarian  Christianity.  Judaism  converts  by  reason, 
logic,  knowledge.  The  masses  need  more  drastic,  palpable  means, 
even  coercion,  even  drowning,  powder  and  lead.  The  Christian 
leaders  used  that  freely :  "The  aim  excuses  the  means."  Thanks 
to  the  Biblical  spirit  and  the  pagan  iron,  Christianity  has  greatly 
extended  the  limits  of  civilization,  has  called  the  barbarous 
Teuton  tribes  into  the  pale  of  humane  culture,  has  abrogated  pa- 

(Adoration  Prayer).         nnx  1D::'1  THX  "T  n\"!^  Ninn  DVa  i 


44  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

gan,  sacrificial  worship,  has  pulled  down  some  of  the  Chinese 
walls  between  the  diverse  races  and  creeds,  has  opened  and  ex- 
tended the  view  towards  catholicity  in  doctrine,  towards  a  greater 
humanity,  equality,  right.  So  Romanism  in  its  time  has  well 
served  mankind  and  contributed  to  human  progress.  For  centuries 
of  the  reign  of  the  brute  sword,  the  Pope,  alone,  commanding  by 
the  right  of  mind,  must  have  become  a  real  savior.  Even  the 
monasteries  had  their  purpose!  They  were  the  only  place  of 
refuge  for  innocence  and  for  learning  during  dark  centuries. 
During  that  time  the  Jews  propagated  the  ancient  sciences  from 
the  Orient,  into  the  Occident.  The  monasteries  and  the  monks 
kindly  received  them  and  made  them  indigenate  in  Europe. 

But  every  institution  has  its  time.  Popes,  romanism,  monas- 
ticism,  Trinitarian  Christianity  had  theirs.  Each  is  a  ring  in  the 
chain  of  human  advance.  Each  has  rendered  in  turn  its  good 
services.  They  bear,  at  any  rate,  some  of  the  noblest  traits  of 
Hebraic  prophetism.  The  Church,  as  the  Synagogue,  has  had  her 
worthy  representatives.  Her  Chrisostoms,  Fenelons,  St.  Bernards, 
Bourdaloux,  rivaled  in  true  eloquence,  enthusiasm  and  piety 
the  Biblical  Samuels,  Nathans,  Jeremiahs,  Aliahus  and  Michas. 
When  "the  scourge  of  God,"  the  Hun-King  Attila,  invaded  Italy, 
the  bishop  of  Miland,  alone,  knew  how  to  oppose  and  tame  the  de- 
stroyer with  purely  spiritual  arms.  The  fierce  vandals  in  Spain 
and  Africa  were  softened  and  civilized  by  Christian  bishops. 
All  the  other  Asiatic  hordes,  Franks,  Goths,  Lombards,  Anglo- 
Saxons,  Normans,  who  overran  the  efifeminated  Byzantine,  the 
Roman  and  the  western  empires,  were  civilized  and  softened  by 
her  conversion,  her  spiritual  weapons  and  led  towards  a  higher 
civilization  than  theirs  had  been.  When  Chlodowig  proudly  con- 
sented to  become  a  Christian,  in  order  to  extend  his  dominions, 
and  sullenly  entered  the  church  to  receive  baptism,  the  bishop 
exclaimed:  "Bow  down  thy  head,  before  the  Supreme  God, 
proud  Sycambrian !"  During  the  long  and  dreary  centuries  from 
the  down-fall  of  Rome  to  the  advent  of  the  Turks  and  the 
fall  of  Constantinople,  the  barons  were  lawless  and  brutal,  uncon- 
trollable and  unblushing  in  their  mad  ambitions  and  passions, 
their  pride  and  avarice,  respecting  neither  law,  prince  or  em- 
peror, club  law  was  supreme.  The  Pope  alone  was  respected ;  the 
Church  was  feared,  papal  Rome  was  the  only  shield  of  innocence. 
Many  a  proud  magnate,  nay  even  kings,  had  to  disgorge  their 


MISSION   OF  CHRISTIANITY.  45 

ill-gotten  wealth,  spare  virtue,  let  in  peace  the  weak.  During 
many  centuries  the  Church  alone  was  the  asylum,  and  the  Pope 
the  only  protector  of  the  oppressed.  They  were  the  shield  of 
justice,  the  sanctuary  of  peace,  the  refuge  of  learning.  Thus 
Christianity,  for  a  time,  and  by  virtue  of  her  contents,  the  Hebraic 
spirit,  the  force  of  the  prophetic  doctrines  underlying  her  insti- 
tutions, has  vanquished  barbarism  and  civilized  the  world.  It  is 
she  who  has  subdued  the  Asiatic  barbarous  immigrations  and 
expunged  paganism,  because  she  offered  a  comparatively  higher 
religion  and  morality.  Not  her  trinitarian  theology,  but  the 
prophetic  doctrine  was  her  nerve.  Thus  Christianity,  undoubt- 
edly, has  done  a  great  deal  of  good  to  the  human  race.  It  has 
paved  the  way  to  the  Decalogue,  the  Psalms,  the  entire  Bible. 

But  it  has  paid  a  big  price  for  its  conquests :  It  has  compro- 
mised with  paganism.  "I  am  the  Eternal,  thy  God,  Thou  shalt 
have  no  other  gods  besides  Me,"  has  been  lost  sight  of.  A  "con- 
cordat" has  been  made  with  the  old  world.  That  concordat  is 
trinity.  That  concordat  must  be  abolished  and  make  room  for 
monotheism.  The  Unitarian  doctrine,  with  its  ethics  and  polity, 
now  already  visibly  dominant  among  the  thinking  portion  of 
mankind,  must  also  penetrate  the  lower  strata  of  the  nations, 
and  pervade  the  masses  as  well  as  the  educated  ones.  The  world 
has  now  outgrown  that  compromise,  the  hanging-bridge,  official 
trinity;  the  educational  transition  period  from  paganism  to 
prophetic  monotheism  must  come  to  an  end  and  yield  its  place  to 
pure,  unalloyed,  uncompromising  monotheism.  The  child  dwells 
in  its  cradle,  man  inhabits  the  spacious,  solid  house.  The  swad- 
dling clothes  of  the  infant  fit  no  longer  the  adult.  They  become 
an  incumbrance,  rather  than  a  comfort  or  protection.  Trinity 
was  formerly  a  stepping  stone  to  a  higher  doctrine,  it  is  now  a 
stumbling  block  in  the  way  of  true  religion  and  science :  Jesus 
was  no  trinitarian.  Does  not  the  New  Testament  quote  his 
words :  I  am  not  come  to  abolish,  but  to  fulfill  the  Law .  . .  "Not  a 
tittle  thereof  shall  be  dropped."  Again  He  said :  "The  first 
Commandment  is :  Hear,  O  Israel,  the  Eternal  is  our  God,  the 
Eternal  is  One,  and  the  second  Commandment  is :  Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself." — Could  he  have  taught  trinity? 
Three  Gods,  and  himself  one  of  the  three!  No;  it  is  his  later 
Gentile  followers  who  taught  that.  They  broke  the  very  back- 
bone of  the  Mosaic  Law.  And  that  backbone  must  be  restored. 
Paul   and  especially  the   Nicaean   Council   eliminated   this   most 


46  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

exalted  unitarian  principle  of  Judaism,  and  introduced  God 
the  Father,  the  Son  and  Trinity.  They  are  to  be  considered  as 
the  founders  of  official  Christianity.  Jesus,  surely,  was  a  pure 
monotheist;  he  had  no  share  in  Paulinian  and  especially  in 
Alexandrian  doctrines.  The  Council  of  Nicaea,  with  its  Graeco- 
Egyptian  theology,  ethics  and  philosophy  has  had  its  time.  Their 
work  of  transition  belongs  to  the  past.  The  future  must  yield  to 
pure  mosaism,  to  prophetic  monotheism,  without  any  alloy  of 
politics,  country,  race,  nationality  or  previous  superstitions.  Mod- 
ern Judaism  contains  all  the  solid  elements  of  the  Mosaico- 
prophetic  religion!  it  is  mankind's  faith;  it  is  a  world-religion. 
The  Gentile  world  now  has  once  more  to  receive  the  Bible  and 
the  Decalogue,  but  to  receive  them  genuine  and  unadulterated, 
from  the  uncompromising  hands  of  Israel.  There  they  will  learn 
to  mind  the  call :  "Let  My  people  go  forth  and  serve  Me."  There 
they  will  read  the  Decalogue  with  its  entire,  grand  opening,  un- 
sophisticated :i  I  am  thy  God.  Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods 
before  Me.— Thou  shalt  know  this  day  and  take  it  into  thine 
heart  that  the  Eternal  is  God  in  heaven  above  and  on  earth  be- 
neath and  none  besides  Him^.  Thus  speaketh  the  Eternal,  the 
King  of  Israel  and  his  Redeemer:  I  am  the  first  and  I  am  the 
last  and  besides  Me  there  are  none.^  Behold  all  God  has  made  is 
very  good'* — i.  e.,  is  perfect,  for  the  happiness  of  the  creatures 
and  the  glory  of  the  Creator ;  the  world  is  of  God's  making ;  not 
the  devil's;  not  for  hell,  not  a  dale  of  woe,  no  pessimism.  He 
created  man  and  woman  in  his  own  image,^  viz  :  with  a  divine  soul 
rational,  free,  responsible ;  made  for  wisdom,  goodness  and  hap- 
piness.— No  eternal  punishment,  no  original  sin,"  *  "Be  witness 
that  I  have  placed  before  thee  life  and  death,  choose."^  Hence 
man  has  his  own  free  will,  is  responsible;  by  his  own  efforts 
capable  of  virtue ;  not  needing  miraculous  grace,  vicarious  atone- 
ment, hell-fire.  Thus  we  see  here :  One  God :  pure  Mind ;  the 
best  creation;  one  human  race:  brotherhood;  one  right:  justice 
to  all ;  marriage,  family,  parenthood,  work  and  enjoyment  for  all ; 

HI  M.,  XX,  2. 

2V  M.,  iv,  39.  And  thou  shalt  know  and  meditate  in  thy  heart,  that 
the  Eternal  is  God  in  the  heavens  above... and  none  else. 

«  Isaiah  xliv,  6.  I  am  the  first  and  the  last,  besides  me  there  exists 
no  God. 

*  Genesis,  i,  31.   All  that  He  has  made,  behold,  it  was  very  good. 

3  Genesis,  i,  27.  In  His  divine  image  He  made  them  male  and  female. 

6  V  M.,  XXX,  19.  Life  and  death  I  placed  before  you. .  .choose  life. 


MISSION  OF  MOHAMMEDANISM. 


47 


no  trinity,  or  incarnation ;  no  devil,  hell  or  original  sin ;  no  mon- 
astery, no  impure  matter ;  no  king  or  priest  by  divine  grace ;  but 
a  happy  world,  freedom,  duty,  work,  dignity,  justice  and  bread 
for  all;  with  monogamy,  brother-men  and  sister-races.  All  that 
is  taught  and  repeated,  over  and  over,  in  the  Mosaic  Genesis  and 
in  the  entire  Bible,  and  was  in  letter  and  spirit,  accepted  by  the 
Nazarean  founder  of  Christianity. 

Let  us  now  say  a  word  concerning  the  Orient  and  the  Moham- 
medan peoples.  As  the  Occidental  nations  claim  that  Israel  and 
his  Law  has  been  abrogated  by  Nazareth,  the  New  Testament 
and  New  Judaism,  even  so  the  Orient  affirms  that  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures  and  people  have  been  superseded  by  Mohammed  and 
the  Qoran ;  that  Mohammed  is  the  last  and  greatest  of  the 
prophets.  He  has,  indeed,  accepted  the  One  God  in  spirit,  the 
Bible  and  its  morals,  the  Decalogue,  the  Sabbath,  for  a  while  even 
the  Atonement-day ;  also  Jerusalem  as  his  Kebla,  etc.  And  all  this 
was  propagated  among  four  hundred  millions  of  Orientals.  Hence 
is  he  greater  than  Moses,  and  his  followers  are  the  true  faithful 
Jews.     This  claim  the  Mohammedan  peoples. 

To  this  the  Jews  reply :  True  that  Mohammed  at  first  was,  or 
claimed  to  be,  simply  a  disciple  of  Abraham  and  Moses.  His  teach- 
ers and  his  spiritual  atmosphere  were  no  doubt  Jewish  or  unita- 
rian-Christian. He  had  probably  even  some  Jewish  blood  cir- 
culating in  his  veins.  A  legend  makes  his  mother  a  Jewess.  He 
no  doubt  taught  the  God  of  Abraham,  the  EI-Elyon,  the  Universal 
Spirit;  with  the  deeds,  duties  and  virtues  as  learned  from  Abra- 
ham ;  his  theology  and  his  morality :  truth,  justice,  kindness  and 
hospitality,  peacefulness  and  urbanity,  purity  and  forbearance,  as 
come  down  from  Abraham  and  remembered  in  Arabia  and  Israel. 
But  later  on  came  a  second  phase,  a  new  period  in  his  teachings, 
and  especially  in  his  real  practice.  With  success,  with  conquest 
and  victory  came  strife,  war,  bloodshed  and  pride,  on  one  side; 
with  the  ridicule  and  scoffing,  the  belittling  and  antagonism  by  his 
opponents,  other  features  came  out  and  got  the  mastery  in  his 
mind.  There  came  the  evil  passions  of  ambition,  dominion, 
revenge  and  overbearing:  he  had  to  satisfy  his  followers  who 
thirsted  for  carnage,  booty  and  slaves,  rapine,  lust  and  conquest. 
So  during  this  second  period  other  principles,  non-Abrahamic, 
unfortunately,  unfolded  and  became  preponderant.     Hence  des- 


48  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

potism,  slavery,  polygamy,  small  learning,  war  and  conquest  in  the 
Orient  to  this  day.  Could  then  Israel  accept  such  a  practice,  such 
a  Prophet,  such  a  Messiah,  with  his  Qoran  and  his  revelation? 
True,  he  taught  one  spiritual  God  and  the  Bible.  But  the  Deca- 
logue was  strangely  crippled  by  that,  practically  curtailed,  if  not 
annulled.  "Thou  shalt  not  steal,  not  murder,  not  commit  lewd- 
ness, not  covet  thy  neighbor's  wife,  house,"  etc.,  was  lost  of  sight. 
"Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself" — was  entirely  over- 
looked in  Mohammed's  and  his  successors'  polity.  He  accepted 
the  heading  of  the  Decalogue,  but  left  out  the  body  of  its  teach- 
ings. He  taught  the  theology,  but  not  its  paramount  outcome,  the 
morals.  Christianity  accepted  the  body,  in  theory,  but  cut  off  the 
heading,  the  unity  of  God.  Both  treated  the  Decalogue  to  a 
Procrustus'  bed,  lopping  off  the  head  or  the  entrails.  You  see, 
Mohammedanism  kept  on  the  head  and  crippled  the  body. 
Christianity  adopted  the  ethics  without  the  doctrine.  Moham- 
medanism adopted  the  doctrine  without  the  ethics  of  the 
Decalogue.  The  practical,  baneful  results  soon  became  ap- 
parent in  either  camp.  The  Mohammedan  exhibits  to  this 
day  the  features  of  selfishness,  carelessness,  restlessness,  war- 
fare, lust,  polygamy,  slavery,  small  advance  in  civilization, 
economical  and  industrial  backwardness,  racial  and  sectarian 
intolerance — the  old  barbarous  military  regimen.  Let  us  hope 
that  the  Young  Turk  party  will  begin  a  new  aera.  As  to  the 
State,  Church  and  social  conditions  in  Christendom,  we  have 
above  surveyed  them. 

Now,  the  reason  of  such  flagrant  anomalies  is,  because  the 
first  teaches  the  theology  of  the  Bible  and  Israel,  without  the 
morals;  the  other  theoretically  inculcates  the  morals,  without 
the  doctrine,  the  divine  unity.  While  monotheism  alone  is 
the  ground  and  safeguard  of  the  unity  of  the  human  race,  of 
justice  and  right  to  each  and  all.  The  fatherhood  of  the 
One  God  is  the  dome  to  the  temple  of  the  brotherhood  of  man. 
In  both,  the  Mohammedan  and  the  Trinitarian  camps,  that 
grave  momentum  was  not  sufficiently  grasped  and  accentu- 
ated, and  was  since  entirely  neglected :  either  religion  became 
a  dry,  formal  creed  without  deed,  a  dead  root,  without  fruit ;  either 
became  a  cold  theology,  not  an  ethical  standard  for  right-living. 
Hence  could  Israel  not  side  with  the  one  or  with  the  other. 
Thus  Mohammedanism  as  Christianity  are  not  final,  both  are 


MISSION    OF    MOHAMMEDANISM.  49 

but  preparatory,  paving  the  way  for  the  higher  revelation  of 
prophetic  Judaism.  They  did  not  abrogate  it,  they  are  but  pre- 
paring it.  The  creed  of  the  Orient  and  the  creed  of  the  Occi- 
dent are  the  sharp  iron  ploughs  tearing  up  the  hard  ground  of 
ancient  barbarism  and  fertilizing  it  with  the  seed  of  their 
mother  Religion.  They  have  extirpated  the  Baal,  Moloch  and 
Astaroth  worship;  they  have  mitigated  former  brutality  and 
sensuality;  they  have  prepared  the  peoples  for  the  full  Ten- 
Words,  for  the  Biblical  God-belief  and  a  purer  morality,  for 
the  call:  "Let  my  people  go  and  serve  Me  in  the  desert."  "For 
from  Zion  comes  the  Law  and  the  word  of  God  from  Jerusalem." 
This  grand  preparatory  task  they  have  fulfilled.  Mankind  now 
is  ripe  for  a  step  farther.  Now  let  them  both  come  forth,  ad- 
vance and  merge  into  the  full  doctrine  and  full  ethics  of 
their  mother  religion,  to  the  entire  and  unabridged  Ten- 
Words,  to  the  standard  of  full  prophetism :  One  God,  one 
human  race,  one  right,  one  Law ;  freedom,  bread  and  education 
for  all ;  not  gold,  power,  war ;  not  original  sin,  devil,  hell  and 
despotism.  Our  Church,  State  and  society  must  take  their 
stand  upon  a  Biblical  basis  and  Israel  must  hold  on  until  this 
basis  is  established. 

THE  BIBLICAL  TEACHINGS. 

Studying  the  unadulterated  Bible,  the  Occident  and  the 
Orient  will  learn  that  this  world  is  not  the  work  of  the  Devil, 
of  the  Evil-principle,  fatalism,  Ahriman  or  Satan:  for  it  is 
written :  "And  God  saw  everything  he  had  made,  and  behold, 
it  is  very  good."  No  dale  of  tears,  or  hell!  Shall  man  pas- 
sively enjoy  or  suffer,  in  laziness  and  oriental  resignation? 
No !  It  is  written :  God  said :  Increase  and  fill  the  earth, 
conquer  and  rule  the  earth,  sea  and  sky,  i.  e.,  make  efforts,  work 
and  enjoy! — "Male  and  female  God  created  man."  Hence  is 
woman  man's  complement,  assistant  and  companion ;  no  poly- 
gamy, or  slavery.  "Sin  lieth  at  thy  door,  but  thou  art  master 
thereof,"  is  man's  patent  of  independence;  responsibility,  no 
original  depravity,  no  vicarious  atonement  and  no  hell  fire; 
effort  and  work  bring  salvation.  All  existing  races  are  the 
offspring  of  one  parental  pair;  thus  brotherhood  and  equality. 


50  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE, 

justice,  bread,  liberty  and  fellow-feeling  for  all  the  Adamites.^ 
Thus  no  aristocratic  and  no  priestly  privileges,  no  discrimina- 
tion of  race,  sex,  caste.  They  will  nowhere  find  in  the  Bible  a 
trace  of  Trinity,  or  incarnation;  of  vicariate  expiation  or  of 
human  infallibility,  of  hell  and  eternal  torments.  There  they 
will  breathe  the  pure,  monotheistic  air  of  the  first  Command- 
ment; the  one,  eternal,  spiritual  God,  caUing:  "Send  forth  My 
people  to  serve  Me."  Service  to  God  is  to  do  justice  to  man; 
love  of  God  is  kindness  for  man:  to  propagate  peace  and  good 
will  among  men.  Leading  verses  in  the  Thora  are :  "And  thou 
shalt  love  the  Eternal,  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart  and  all 
thy  soul  and  all  thy  might."  (V.  M.  6:4.),  next:  "And  thou 
shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  (Ill  M.,  19:18.)  Here 
Moses,  Hillel,  Aqiba,  Buddha,  Confucius  and  Nazareth  coin- 
cide. Thus  veneration  to  God  and  sympathy  for  man — not 
political  or  religious  warfare,  not  shiboleth  of  birth  or  privi- 
lege, are  the  true  tests  and  objects  of  society. 

When  the  Gentile  world  will  have  accepted  Thora  and 
Decalogue,  in  deed  and  fact,  plain,  pure  and  genuine,  the  task 
of  Israel  will  be  fulfilled;  then  Israelite  and  Gentile  will  both 
be  absorbed  in  the  one  great  stream  of  Humanity.  Both  will 
rest  at  the  bosom  of  their  Common  Father,  the  God  of  the  Uni- 
verse, as  they  come  from  and  finally  rest  together  in  the  lap 
of  their  common,  all-absorbing  mother,  earth ;  as  the  prophetic 
ideal,  "Then  will  God  be  One  and  His  name  be  One." 

Look  around,  there  is  progress  in  history,  mankind  does 
improve,  however  slowly  and  hesitatingly.  And  this  even  is  the 
sense  and  the  contents  of  our  motto :  "Send  forth  My  people  to 
serve  Me  in  the  wilderness."  Bible  in  hands,  Israel  was  and  is 
as  yet  the  Providential  messenger  to  call  on  the  savage  in 
the  wilderness  to  become  a  civilized  man,  or,  as  repeated  by  a 
later  seer  (Is.  40:3),  standing  on  the  shoulders  of  Moses:  "A 
voice  calls  in  the  wilderness,  prepare  the  way  of  the  Eternal 
God.  Every  valley  shall  be  exalted  and  every  mountain  be 
lowered  and  leveled  that  the  glory  of  Ihvh  shall  be  visible  to 
all  the  flesh."    Let  us  now  quote  the  new  leaders. 

iGen.,  V,  1,  reads:  "This  is  the  boolt  of  Geneology  of  Adam.  When 
Elohim  created  him,  in  the  Divine  image  He  made  him  (rational  and 
responsible),  male  and  female  He  made  them  and  blessed  them."  Finely 
emphasize  the  Rabbis:  This  passage  is  man's  patent  of  nobility  and 
equality;  that  nobody  shall  cavil  his  neighbor  on  account  of  sex,  birth, 
race  and  social  station:  All  are  descendants  of  one  couple. 


THE   BIBLICAL  TEACHINGS.  51 

After  the  disastrous  war  between  France  and  Germany,  a 
generation  ago,  induced  by  two  unscrupulous  men  for  selfish 
purposes,  the  French  democracy  addressed  the  German 
democracy,  as  brothers  do  brothers,  as  fellowmen,  beseech- 
ing them,  exhorting  them,  calling  on  them  to  stop  war  and 
withdraw  the  invading  army  in  the  name  of  justice  and 
humanity.  "Let  us  proclaim— they  say— the  liberty,  equality 
and  fraternity  of  the  peoples,  long  live  the  Universal  Republic, 
the  equal  rights  of  man.  Let  us  form  a  union  of  the  States 
of  Europe."  What  great  thrilling  words,  shaking  ofif  the  old, 
worn-out  prejudices  of  sect  and  race  and  country,  and  sub- 
stituting instead,  one  humanity  and  one  right !  The  same 
proclaimed  Castellar  and  the  Spanish  liberals :  "All  the  continent 
shall  form  one  people,  and  all  the  nations  one  family... 
We  salute  in  you  the  advent  of  right  and  liberty."  Such  are 
the  footsteps,  the  vestiges  of  the  messengers  of  peace  and 
good-will  to  all.  The  same  tendency  we  see  in  the  several 
churches.  The  summits  of  the  sects  and  races  begin  to  feel 
more  kindred.  The  points  of  consent  are  more  important 
than  those  of  dissent.  A  Jewish  minister,  a  Jewish  writer,  an 
advocate  of  Jewish  rights,  in  these  Biblical  pages  above, 
enumerates  the  great  historical  achievements  of  the  Roman 
and  of  the  Protestant  Churches.  Some  time  ago  the  Evangelical 
Alliance  paid  a  warm  tribute  of  recognition  to  the  part  and 
the  merits  of  the  Jews  in  mankind's  vast  history.  The  em- 
peror of  the  Russians  started  the  Peace  or  Hague  Conference, 
moving  for  an  international  High  Court  of  Arbitration  be- 
tween contending  parties  and  peoples.  Already  conflicts  have 
been  averted  by  such  a  dawning  international  Court.  In  time 
it  is  bound  to  become  supreme  and  discard  war.  The  great 
inter-social  problems,  just  as  the  international  difficulties^  the  old 
and  the  modern  feuds  between  wealth  and  poverty,  between 
capital  and  labor,  between  classes  and  masses,  can  and  must 
be  adjusted  only  by  such  future  Courts  of  Arbitration,  Thus 
reason  and  right  are  gradually  and  hesitatingly,  yet  surely, 
gaining  ground  over  selfishness,  force  and  over-reaching.  On 
this  important  theme  and  its  bearing  on  Israel,  we  recently 
gave  our  opinion  as  follows : 

THE  HAGUE  ARBITRATION  AND  THE  PROPHETS. 
"And  it  will  be  in  the  days  of  the  far  off  future,  when  the 
mount  of  the  house  of  God  will  be  firmly  established  on  top 


52  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

of  all  the  mounts,  whereto  all  the  nations  will  stream,  saying: 
Let  us  go  and  pilgrimage  to  the  Ihvh  Mount  and  learn  of  His 
methods. .  .for  from  Zion  comes  the  divine  word..  .And  He  shall 
judge  between  nations.  .  .  and  they  shall  change  their 
swords  unto  pruning  hooks,  and  their  spears  to  harvest  tools 
and  they  shall  no  longer  learn  warfare.  (Isaiah  U).  And  a 
sprout  will  rise  from  Jesses'  stem... on  whom  will  rest  the 
divine  spirit,  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  intelligence,  of  counsel 
and  strength,  of  knowledge  and  fear  of  God... Who  shall 
not  judge  according  to  mere  appearance  or  hearsay.  Right- 
eousness shall  be  the  girdle  of  his  loins,  and  faithfulness  his 
strength..  .The  wolf  shall  dw^ell  in  peace  with  the  lamb,  and 
the  lion  eat  straw  as  the  cow..  ."  (Is.  XL)  Such  we  find  the 
peace-ideal  in  Prophets  and  moralists. 

"Here  we  find  outlined  the  Hague  Arbitration,  the  Peace 
Commission,  attempted  now  by  our  philanthropists,  and  our  wise 
statesmen^  who  recently  gathered  in  New  York  as  preliminary  to 
the  coming  Hague  assemblage,  to  banish  the  sword  and,  instead, 
put  into  man's  hands  the  plough  and  the  tools  of  agriculture 
and  industry:  "That  the  entire  globe  may  become  the  Holy 
Divine  Mount,  full  of  God's  knowledge  and  good  will  to 
man,  as  the  sea  is  covered  with  water." — That  great  idea 
of  a  permanent  Peace  Court,  peace  with  honor  and  justice,  is  a 
Jewish  idea,  a  prophetic  idea,  of  now  nearly  3,000  years  ago.  It 
is  just  and  proper  that  Jews,  descendants  from  the  Prophets, 
should  gather  around  it,  foster  and  nurture  it.  Israel  is  a  right 
and  spirit-nation,  and  shall  be  strongly  represented  at  the  Hague 
Arbitration  Commission. 

"Let  me  emphasize  this  with  particular  fervor.  The  Jews 
of  America  and  Europe  should  earnestly  see  to  it  that  they 
are  well  and  solidly  represented  at  the  permanent  Hague 
Arbitration  Court.  They  have  a  right  to  it,  but  they  also  have 
the  duty  of  it.  Their  right  is  a  historical,  millennial  one:  Be- 
cause their  leaders,  prophets  and  moralists  have  first  pointed 
it  out  as  the  goal,  the  idea  and  the  final  aspiration  of  mankind. 
But  it  is  their  duty  and  racial  interest.  The  Jews  suffer  as  a 
nationality,  a  confession  and  a  race.  They  are  persecuted  with 
iron  and  blood  by  barbarous  nations.  They  are  mortified  and 
maligned  even  among  so-called  civilized  nations.  They  are 
such  as  Jews ;  and  as  Jews  they  are  entitled  to  be  represented 

1  Hon.  Jacob  II.  Schiff  and  other  Jews  were  not  missing  there. 


THE   BIBLICAL  TEACHINGS.  53 

at  the  World's  Peace  and  Justice  Commission.  There  they 
shall  bring  to  the  knowledge  of  the  great  International  Coun- 
cil their  grievances,  and  demand  justice  as  a  right  for  the  des- 
cendants of  those  who  gave  the  world  the  idea  of  universal 
peace  and  justice.  They,  first,  said  that  as  long  as  nations  fight 
there  is  barbarism,  and  that,  alone,  with  peace  and  justice  civiliza- 
tion begins. 

The  papers  of  April  16, 1907,  published  the  United  States  Presi- 
dent's letter  on  peace  arbitration,  offering  many  vistas  and  points 
very  well  presented,  while  others  are  questionable.  The  presiden- 
tial letter  says :  "Though  it  is  our  bounden  duty  to  work  for 
peace,  yet  it  is  even  more  our  duty  to  work  for 
righteousness  and  justice.  If  they  are  ever  at  odds,  it  is  right- 
eousness whose  cause  we  must  espouse."  This  paragraph  hits 
the  nail  on  the  head.  To  insure  peace  without  justice,  fails 
the  mark.  All  the  great  despots  of  history  made  the  same 
plea  for  their  wars,  conquests  and  usurpations,  claiming  that 
men  envy  and  rob  each  other,  the  prince  compelling  them  by 
superior  force  to  live  at  peace.  So  reasoned  Alexander,  Cae- 
sar, Tamerlane,  Charlemagne,  Napoleon.  The  laws  of  Hammu- 
rabi, the  Twelve  Tables,  the  Code  Justinianus,  the  several 
feudal  codes,  all  aimed  at  peace,  but  at  peace  without  justice 
and  equity.  They  simply  developed  injustice  and  inequality. 
The  legislator  sanctioned  and  rendered  permanent  the  injus- 
tice or  unrighteousness,  conditions  which  had  been  created. 
The  statutes  perfected  and  consummated  what  war  and  ambi- 
tion had  begun.  President  Roosevelt  deserves  well  in  having 
called  attention  to  the  stern  fact  that  arbitration  and  peace 
are  only  meritorious  when  they  are  gained  and  firmly  estab- 
lished on  solid  justice  and  fairness.  Peace  without  justice  is 
worse  than  war:  it  is  death,  slavery  without  redemption,  bru- 
talizing men  by  the  whip  of  fear  and  hope. 

The  letter  continues :  "But  harm  and  not  good  would  result 
if  the  most  advanced  nations,  those  in  which  most  freedom 
for  the  individual  is  combined  with  efficiency,  security  and 
justice,  should,  by  agreement,  disarm  and  place  themselves  at 
the  mercy  of  other  peoples  less  advanced  and  in  a  state  of  military 
barbarism  and  despotism ;  if  civilized  and  peace-loving  peo- 
ples, with  the  highest  standards  of  international  obligations 
and  duty,  would  by  disarmament  be  unable  to  check  other 
nations  with  no  such  standards  of  obligation."  Against  this 
paragraph  a  closer  examination  of  facts  must  demur.  If  The 
Hague  Arbitration  Commission  would  ordain  and  insist  that 


54  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

justice-loving  peoples  should  disarm  and  permit  the  barbarous 
ones  to  remain  armed,  such  dire  consequences  might  well  re- 
sult. But  states  now  advocating  peace  arbitration  are  not 
children  and  not  imbeciles.  Their  great  object  and  aim  will 
and  shall  be  the  universal  and  total  disarmament  of  all  peoples 
and  nations,  civilized  or  not,  and  making  it  a  standing  rule 
that  all  international  differences  shall  be  settled  by  arbitration 
and  never  by  resort  to  war.    And  next: 

"Since  'ultima  ratio  vis  est,'  the  arbitration  board  will  decree 
and  prescribe  for  every  nation,  to  entertain  a  stipulated  military 
force  under  command  of  a  general  of  their  choice,  which  all 
such  military  contingents  together  shall  be  ready  to  forcibly 
compel  any  refractory  people  to  do  justice,  to  resign  war  and 
submit  any  and  every  disagreement,  claim  or  cause,  to  the 
same,  one,  supreme  arbitration  commission  for  final  settlement, 
that  will  secure  peace  with  justice,  which  our  Chief  Magistrate 
so  well  emphasizes. 

"Interrogating  history  we  find  this  ever  to  have  been  a 
method  of  discarding  strife  and  bringing  about  peace  with 
justice.  France  was  a  monarchy  composed  of  a  large  number 
of  duchies  and  kingdoms  ever  at  war  with  each  other.  Louis 
XL,  Henry  IV.  and  Louis  XIV.  compelled  the  dukes  to  forego 
war  and  resort  to  arbitration  or  peace  with  justice.  England 
had  its  turbulent  barons  and  earls;  Germany  had  its  princi- 
palities, grand  dukes  and  princely  courts,  each  independent, 
measuring  their  rights  by  their  power  to  make  war  against 
each  other  and  even  against  the  sovereign.  They  yielded  at 
last  to  the  necessity  of  law  and  order,  recognizing  an  authority 
to  settle  their  mutual  claims  on  the  basis  of  peace  with  justice. 
"The  United  States  of  North  America,  the  expanded  united 
colonies,  as  soon  as  they  disrupted  from  England  and  acquired 
their  independence,  did  just  the  same.  Each  state  is  governed 
by  law,  not  by  force,  and  all  the  states  settle  their  differences 
by  the  courts,  peace  with  justice. 

"Should  we  hesitate  to  disarm  the  civilized  nations  because 
the  barbarous  ones  are  aroused  and  resort  to  war?  That 
would  be  postponing  peace  for  war;  that  would  be  sacrificing 
civilization  to  barbarism.  As  long  as  we  have  war  between 
nations  we  cannot  claim  to  be  civilized.  And  as  long  as  we 
tolerate  international  war  we  must  connive,  and  are  conniving, 
at  private  wrong. 

But  one  would  object:  The  barbarous  countries  may  not 
submit  to  disarm  and  rely  on  arbitration,  but  ever  prefer  to 
rely  upon  their  force?  I  doubt  that.  Let  the  United  States, 
England,  France,  Germany,  Italy,  etc.,  indorse  arbitration  and 


THE   BIBLICAL  TEACHINGS.  55 

total  disarmament,  with  the  proviso  of  one,  single  public  force  to 
compel  all  refractory  parties,  and  I  deny  that  Russia  or  Turkey, 
or  Morocco  will  dare  contradict  the  reasonable  will  of  the 
combined  civilized  powers,  and  stand  up  single-handed  against 
the  will  of  civilization,  reason  and  force  united  in  such  an 
arbitration  court.  Such  civilized  countries,  united  under  the 
flag  of  peace  with  justice,  will  be  irresistible,  war  will  disap- 
pear, the  sword  will  make  room  for  arbitration,  the  plow,  the 
tool,  and  the  barbarous  peoples  will  have  no  other  choice  than 
to  submit  with  good  grace  to  the  higher  civilization,  to  peace 
with  justice.  Behold,  what  disgraceful,  horrifying  things  went 
on  in  Russia,  Armenia,  Roumania,  no  less  than  in  Morocco  or 
Persia !  And  the  civilized  peoples  stand  aghast,  ashamed, 
looking  on !  Adopt  that  policy  of  disarmament,  arbitration 
and  a  single  international  military  force,  and  such  crimes 
against  humanity — such  shameful  perpetrations — will  disap- 
pear. 

"Passing  over  the  discussion  of  other  points  in  Roosevelt's  let- 
ter, we  shall  close  with  the  remark  that  it  is  perfectly  true  that 
the  problem  is  vast  and  difficult,  and  that  "it  is  better  to  ac- 
complish something,  but  in  the  right  direction,  than  to  ask  much 
and  obtain  nothing."  But,  we  emphasize,  let  enlightened  arbi- 
trators and  friends  of  humanity  not  block  their  way  by  lack 
of  courage.  Let  them  not  despair  before  they  begin  action. 
Western  mankind  is  ripe  for  a  treaty  of  general  disarmament 
and  a  supreme  court  of  arbitration.  They  have  only  to  say: 
We  will,  because  it  is  our  duty,  because  it  is  just,  reasonable 
and  timely  that  nations  as  individuals  bring  their  cases  before 
an  arbitration  court  and  that  only  beasts  and  savages  repair 
to  war.  Let  them  proceed  on  this  road  as  slowly  and  cautiously 
as  necessary,  but  ever  uphold  this  principle  and  this  convic- 
tion, viz:  That  in  the  world  as  it  is,  in  our  present  environ- 
ments, it  is  possible,  desirable  and  even  for  any  and  every 
civilized  nation,  correctly  understanding  her  own  interests  in 
harmony  with  those  of  civilized  fellow-mankind,  to  manfully 
agree  to  submit  to  arbitration  all  and  every  difference,  which 
may  arise  between  nations  and  countries,  by  an  international 
high  court  of  peace  and  justice,  according  to  law  and  equity, 
and  thus  gradually  form  all  civilized  countries  and  peoples 
into  one  vast  United  States  of  the  world.^ 


iPublished  in  Baltimore  American,  April  20,  1907. 
I   add   that,   having  written   that   to   our   revered   friend.   Professor 
A.  H.  Sayce  of  Oxford-Cairo,  he  replied:   "I  am  afraid  that  as  long  aa 
man  is  what  he  is,  war  will  go  on." 


56  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

Thus  this  great  work  of  human  unification,  pacification,  and  fra- 
ternization, on  the  platform  of  prophetic  monotheism  and  the  Ten 
Words,  is  slowly  and  gradually,  hesitatingly,  yet  surely  being 
accomplished.  The  bright  day  of  the  reconciliation  of  Jew  and 
Gentile,  of  the  Orient  and  the  Occident  may  be  discerned  on  the 
horizon.  It  has  dawned  upon  the  best  of  all  the  nations  and 
creeds.  In  the  first  centuries  of  the  present  aera,  as  yet,  the 
world  was  pagan,  worshipping  Baal  and  Astaroth,  Assur  and 
Merodach,  with  human  sacrifices,  unchastity  and  despotic  all- 
power.  From  the  fourth  to  the  sixteenth  century  it  became  Catho- 
lic, with  trinity  and  infallibility,  with  the  Pope  claiming  precedence 
over  Czesar,  mind  over  force,  right  over  the  sword — an  advance 
to  be  sure.  In  the  sixteenth  it  became  Protestant,  strongly  lean- 
ing towards  the  Hebrew  Sacred  Writ,  with  some  faint  recognition 
of  the  right  of  reason  and  conviction.  In  the  eighteenth  century 
Frederick  II,  Catherine  II,  Voltaire,  Leibnitz,  Spinoza,  Mendels- 
sohn, Kant,  and  the  Encyclopaedists  advocated  free  thought.  In 
the  nineteenth  the  elite,  the  flower  of  Christanity  was  Unitarian, 
pleading  for  a  free  conscience,  a  free  man  and  woman,  a  free 
citizen  in  a  free  country:  Church,  school,  press  and  speech  free. 
One  step  more,  one  effort  more ,  some  positive  science  more,  a 
little  more  frankness,  and  the  masses  will  be  educated,  enlighten- 
ed and  gained  over  to  reason,  to  one  God,  and  one  right  for  all ; 
the  world  will  stand  upon  Biblical  grounds,  Jew  and  Gentile, 
Arian,  Turanian,  and  Semite  will  fuse  into  one  humanity.  That 
epoch  is  yet  far  away,  but  the  dawn  of  it,  **  the  footsteps  on  the 
mounts  of  the  peace-messenger  are  discernible." 

CHARLES  VOYSEY  ON  "JEWS  AND  THEIR  MISSION."i 
"What  is  the  mission  or  destiny  of  the  Hebrew  race?     The 
answer  to  it  is,  I  think,  to  be  inferred  from  their  past  history. 
What  have  they  been,  what  have  they  done  hitherto;  and  where 
do  they  now  stand? 

Eliminating  for  the  present  all  reference  to  miraculous  reve- 
lation, and  looking  with  a  cold,  calm,  and  mundane  eye  on  the 
stream  of  Jewish  history,  nothing  can  be  more  obvious  than  the 
fact  that,  as  a  nation,  the  Jews  have  been  the  guardians  of  a 
truth  which  they  consider  above  all  things  sacred.  They  had  no 
raison  d'etre  except  as  preservers  and  defenders  of  this  sacred 


iln  the  London  Jewish  World  (1870?). 


CHARLES  VOYSEY  ON  "JEWS  AND  THEIR  MISSION."     57 

trust.  It  is  nothing  to  the  purpose  how  it  arose,  by  whom  con- 
veyed to  the  people,  under  whose  authority  it  was  enshrined. 

Whether  given  by  the  very  mouth  of  God,  or  merely  by  the 
natural  agency  of  the  mind  of  some  great  law-giver,  the  fact  re- 
mains the  same,  that  the  Jew  believed  something  which  he  and 
his  whole  race  were  to  guard  as  the  most  priceless  treasure,  and 
to  defend  with  their  life's  blood. 

Not  only  is  this  proved  by  the  endurance  through,  perhaps,  four 
thousand  years  of  that  simple  belief  in  all  its  original  purity,  in 
spite  of  every  form  of  corruption  and  persecution,  but  it  is  also 
proved  by  the  history  of  the  various  apostasies  which  are  re- 
corded in  the  Scriptures.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  in  the  period  of 
the  kings  of  Israel  and  Judah,  masses  of  the  people  fell  away 
into  idolatry.  But  never  was  the  nation  left  without  witness  for 
God  and  His  truth.  It  survived  the  corrupting  influence  of  the 
favor  of  kings  no  less  than  the  threatening  hostility  of  open  perse- 
cution. 

The  Hebrew  Scriptures  are  a  record  of  the  preservation  of 
the  sacred  trust  amidst  the  degradation  and  apostasy  of  nearly 
the  whole  people,  and  amidst  the  contaminating  influences  of 
captivity  in  idolatrous  lands.  The  fact  that  it  is  preserved  alive 
unto  this  day — not  merely  in  the  words  of  a  book,  but  in  the 
hearts  of  Jewish  men  and  women  all  over  the  world,  in  spite 
of  contact  with  every  form  of  religious  beliefs  more  or  less 
idolatrous — furnishes,  in  my  opinion,  the  strongest  possible 
indication  that  in  the  course  of  Divine  Providence  the  Jews 
have  been  perpetuated  to  this  day  on  purpose  to  preserve  this 
sacred  truth,  and  that  they  have  been  scattered  into  all  lands, 
among  all  creeds,  on  purpose  to  proclaim  it,  and  to  teach  it  to 
their  less  enlightened  fellow  men. 

Nothing,  to  my  mind,  is  more  remarkable  than  that  while 
the  Jewish  race,  since  its  first  Levitical  organization,  have 
modified  considerably  some — if  not  the  most  important — of 
the  ceremonies  believed  to  be  of  divine  origin;  and  while  Jews 
of  this  present  age  in  various  lands  show  a  distinct  and  de- 
cided variety  in  consequence  of  the  inevitable  influence  of  sur- 
rounding customs,  their  belief  in  the  one  Lord  God  remains 
ever  unchanged ;  identical  in  every  land,  untouched  by  the 
subtle  attractions  of  a  very  sensuous  and  anthropomorphic  re- 
ligion.    It  is  not  then  for  the  rites  and  ceremonies,  nor  even 


58  EXODUS.  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

for  every  detail  of  Mosaic  legislation,  that  the  Jewish  people 
have  been  so  marvellously  preserved,  but  for  the  maintenance 
and  transmission  and,  as  I  hope,  universal  spread  of  their  one 
fundamental  and  imperishable  thought,  "The  Lord  our  God  is 
one  Lord,  and  thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy 
heart,  and  with  all  thy  mind,  and  with  all  thy  strength."  No 
boasted  unity  of  Christendom  in  its  palmiest  days  could  ever 
show  the  unity  of  Judaism  in  their  one  cardinal  belief.  From 
the  days  of  Abraham — in  whom  God  promised  that  all  the 
families  of  the  earth  should  be  blessed,  and  of  Moses,  who 
uttered  forth  the  glorious  and  immortal  song,  "The  Lord  God, 
merciful  and  gracious,  long-suffering,  plenteous  in  goodness 
and  truth" — down  to  this  very  hour,  the  conception  of  God 
has  retained  its  purity,  with  all  the  constancy  and  brilliancy  of 
the  sun  in  the  firmament.  Only  what  was  once  the  religion  of 
the  few,  and  impressed  by  slow  degrees  and  under  a  stern  dis- 
cipline upon  the  whole  Jewish  people,  after  centuries  of  back- 
sliding and  apostasy,  has  now  become  the  universal  faith  of 
the  Jewish  people — the  one  point  upon  which  there  can  be  no 
divergence.  Circumcision  does  not  make  a  Jew,  for  there  are 
races  which  practice  circumcision  who  are  not  children  of 
Abraham.  Rites  and  ceremonies  do  not  make  a  Jew,  for  these 
alter  with  altered  circumstances,  and  are  wisely  modified  by 
experience  and  common  sense.  The  "blood  of  bulls  and  goats" 
no  longer  stains  the  floors  of  the  temples;  the  fumes  of  the 
burnt  sacrifice  no  longer  ascend  to  the  skies.  But  the  love  of 
the  One  True  God  still  warms  the  hearts  of  devout  worship- 
pers ;  and  instead  of  our  smoke  going  up  to  heaven,  heaven 
sends  down  to  us  the  kindling  flame  of  brotherly  love. 

Isolation,  exclusion,  rigidity  of  forms  and  ceremonies — all 
these  may  have  been  needful,  and  may  still  be  needful,  as  scaf- 
folding is  to  the  building;  but  surely  the  devout  Hebrew  mind 
must  perceive  that  these  are  not  the  building  itself— not  the 
true  temple  which  the  Lord  hath  built,  and  not  man. 

The  sacred  trust,  then,  kept— the  Lord  be  praised !— unto 
this  hour,  never  before  in  all  time  more  cherished,  more  pre- 
cious than  it  is  now  in  the  dawn  of  brighter  days  for  the 
chosen  race,  is  the  object  for  which  the  race  was  called  out 
of  bondage,  drilled  by  centuries  of  painful  discipline,  sheltered 
and  kept  faithful  through  the  most  cruel  persecution. 


CHARLES  VOYSEY  ON  "JEWS  AND  THEIR  MISSION."     59 

To  me,  once  a  Christian,  but  now  animated,  strengthened 
and  refreshed  by  the  same  trust  in  the  Hving  God  which  in- 
spired and  nourished  the  souls  of  Abraham,  Moses,  Isaiah  and 
the  Psalmists — a  very  Jew  in  my  religious  belief,  though  not 
in  externals — to  me,  I  say,  it  seems  as  if  the  time  were  come 
when  you  Hebrews  may,  with  perfect  safety  and  success,  make 
some  efforts  to  lead  the  Gentile  world  into  the  marvelous  light 
which  has  cheered  you  through  your  many  weary  pilgrimages. 
God  gives  no  gift  unto  men  to  hide  in  their  bosoms,  and  not 
to  share  it  with  those  who  have  it  not.  Not  even  His  best  and 
noblest  gifts  of  faith  and  love  are  ours  only  to  keep  selfishly 
for  the  warmth  and  comfort  of  our  family  and  race.  The  poor 
Christians,  whose  attempts  at  your  conversion  are  so  truly 
ridiculous,  are  yet  moved,  let  us  trust,  by  a  sort  of  generosity; 
and  though  it  may  be  repugnant  to  your  feelings  and  taste  to 
adopt  their  tactics,  you  may  take  a  lesson  from  their  zeal. 
Christianity  and  all  polytheistic  or  idolatrous  religions  are 
dying.  Atheism  is  gathering  its  unhappy  victims.  Anthro- 
pomorphism is  still  further  degenerating  into  a  shameless  worship 
of  the  creature  instead  of  the  Creator.  Judaism  still  lives — the 
salt  of  the  earth.  Free  from  idolatry  and  every  subtle  form  of 
creature  worship,  inspiring  an  imperturbable  serenity  and  a 
glowing  hope,  it  is  alone  fitted  to  come  forth  once  more  as  the 
leader  of  religious  thought,  the  deliverer  of  souls  out  of  bond- 
age, and  the  herald  of  divine  peace  to  those  who  are  without 
hope  and  without  God  in  the  world. 

Would  that  you  could  dare  to  throw  open  your  synagogues — 
if  only  once  a  week — to  worshippers  of  all  creeds,  to  hear  an 
English  service  and  an  English  sermon ;  retaining  on  your 
Sabbaths  and  festivals  all  your  traditional  ceremonies  as  be- 
fore. You  would  lose  nothing  yourselves.  You  would  give  a 
priceless  boon  to  many  who,  like  myself,  have  hungered  and 
thirsted  for  words  of  faith  and  hope  in  this  wilderness  of  un- 
belief and  superstition. 

PRACTICAL  RESULTS  OF  THE  EXODUS. 

Theme:  II  M.  12 :12.— "On  all  the  gods  of  Egypt  I  shall 
exercise  judgment." 

What  is  the  practical  result  of  the  Exodus?  What  has  man- 
kind really  gained  by  it?    What  impulse  has  it  given?    Wha^ 


6o  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

are  Israel's  contributions  to  mankind's  ideas  and  achieve- 
ments since  3,500  years?  We  speak  of  the  new  aera  of  Israel's 
mission  and  messiahship:  Is  that  pretense  or  truth?  What 
has  he  achieved  and  what  may  he  yet  achieve?  The  answer  is, 
summarized,  given  in  II  M.,  12 .2 :  "Over  all  the  gods  of 
Egypt  I  shall  pass  judgment!"  All  the  gods,  all  the  powers  and 
principles,  all  vital  institutions  have  been  changed  and  reno- 
vated since  Moses  and  the  Exodus.  Not  two  stones  have 
been  left  together  of  the  old  religions.  The  entire  ancient 
polity,  in  palace  and  temple,  land  and  government,  has  been 
changed  and  reconstructed,  and  all  was  so  upon  the  basis  of 
the  Exodus  and  its  new  principle :  "I  am  Ihvh,"  and  its  logical 
sequels.  Let  us  survey  history  and  we  shall  find  our  motto 
literally  and  grandly  verified. 

Egypt  of  the  Pharaohs  v/as  the  pattern  of  the  ancient  pre- 
Sinaic  polity.  The  civilization  of  Hindustan,  Phoenicia,  Baby- 
lonia, Chaldea,  Assyria  in  its  highest  form  and  noblest  type,  was 
in  Egypt.  The  best  of  the  ancient  Church  and  State,  of  mon- 
archy and  priesthood,  classes  and  people,  habits  and  laws,  agri- 
culture, crafts,  commerce  and  industry,  all  was  there — and  since 
that  all  was  declared  deficient  and  incompetent,  mene,  mene 
tekal!^  Limb  by  limb  and  principle  by  principle,  all  and  each 
was  removed,  an  absolute  break-down  took  place  and  reconstruc- 
tion was  achieved.  New  laws  were  laid  down  for  State,  society, 
religion,  family,  education,  human  practice  and  theory,  life  and  as- 
pirations. And  this  was  effected  by  Sinai's  polity  since  the  Exodus, 
3,500  years  ago;  really  and  literally  realizing  the  motto:  "On  all 
the  gods  of  Egypt  I  shall  execute  judgment,  I,  Ihvh."  Let  us 
have  a  careful  survey  of  history,  without  any  bias  or  preconcep- 
tion, any  made-up  opinion,  and  we  shall  be  agreeably  surprised  at 
the  amount  of  improvement  mankind  has  realized  since  and 
by  the  principles  of  the  Exodus  and  Sinai. 

EGYPT'S  POLITY  SURVEYED. 

I.  The  base  of  the  State  and  society  of  Egypt  was  religion. 
What  was  that  religion?  It  was  polytheism!  As  many  races 
and  provinces,  so  many  gods,  so  many  capitals  and  temples; 
each  deity  had  its  own  city,  represented  in  a  triad.^    Such  were 

iDaniel.  ...^pn  SJO  ,X30  1 
2The  pattern  of  the  later  christological  one. 


EGYPT    SURVEYED.  6i 

Osiris,  Isis  and  Horus,  Amon-Rha,  Serapis,  etc.;  twelve  to  fif- 
teen supreme  gods  with  a  host  of  inferior  deities,  foreign  cults, 
later  introduced,  representing  aspects  or  forces  of  nature  or 
heroes;  with  hierarchs  and  priestcraft;  all  the  gods  pictured 
bodily,  whimsically,  sensationally  to  catch  the  fancy,  the  awe, 
the  stupid  admiration  of  the  vulgar;  in  shape  of  men,  women, 
animals,  monsters,  reptiles,  crocodiles,  snakes,  flowers,  vege- 
tables, trees,  mountains,  stars;  Serapis,  viz.:  Osiris-Apis, 
being  the  leading  deity;  all  were  emblems  of  abstruse  ideas, 
pictured  and  symbolized,  grotesque  images  which  the  people 
took  literally  and  became  grossly  idolatrous.  The  leading 
priests  alone  knew  something  about  their  true  meaning  and 
emblematical  sense,  they  being  initiated  into  their  "mysteries." 

All  that  stupid  and  blasphemous  symbolism,  made  to  hide 
priestly  cunning  and  ignorance  and  popular  superstition,  was 
swept  away  and  gave  room  to  the  clear,  salient  Mosaic  God- 
belief  of  the  Exodus:  Ihvh,  viz.:  Being,  Essence,  Eternity, 
All-Presence,  Supreme  Cause,  Providence,  Creator,  the  One  God- 
doctrine  with  its  physical,  mental  and  ethical  laws,  spiritual 
and  all-holy.  Egyptian  wisdom  was  mostly  mythology  and 
superstition,  symbolic  forms  for  the  ignorant  masses,  and  mys- 
teries for  the  initiated.  The  educated  and  the  leaders  had  an- 
other religion,  other  morality  and  standard.  The  Church  was  the 
handmaid  of  the  rulers,  lay  or  priestly.  Whilst  Mosaism 
had  one  God,  one  law  and  one  practice  for  all,  the  priests  were 
the  ministers,  not  the  masters ;  the  teachers,  not  the  corrup- 
ters, of  the  people. 

EGYPT  AND  INDIA. 

II.  Egypt,  as  India,  had  several  races  and  different  castes. 
The  people  was  divided  into  separate  social  classes,  with  an 
impassable  gap  between  them.  A  caste  of  priests  with  the 
King  heading  them,  as  son  of  the  god ;  a  caste  of  warriors 
with  the  grand-vizier,  deputy  of  the  King;  a  caste  of  traders, 
agriculturists,  craftsmen  and  semi-free  laborers.  And  finally  came 
an  immense  crowd  of  menials  and  slaves,  by  war  or  purchase,  or 
inherited,  or  kidnapped,  considered  and  used  as  chattels  and  beasts 
of  burden.  This  system  of  castes  was  based  upon  the  swampy  soil 
of  their  theology.  Polytheism  teaches  many  gods  and  countries 
and  races,  with  conflicts,  war,  conquests,  privileges  and  artificial 
social  discriminations. 


62  EXODUS,    MOSES    AND    THE    DECALOGUE. 

In  India  castes  are  a  principle  of  religion,  Brahmanism: 
From  Brahma's  head  came  the  priests,  the  leading  Brahman  caste ; 
from  Brahma's  arms  sprang  the  warriors,  Kshatria;  from  Brah- 
ma's abdomen  derived  the  Vaisya,  the  traders,  agriculturists,  etc., 
from  Brahma's  feet,  the  Sondra,  next  all  the  conquered,  the  now 
Gypsies,  the  slaves,  pariahs,  etc.  That  system  had  in  Egypt 
some  mitigation,  yet  it  remained  the  leading  principle.  Mo- 
saism  radically  abolished  castes:  One  God,  All-Father, 
created  one  human  parent  couple,  hence  all  men  are  brothers  and 
free ;  one  man  to  one  woman ;  there  is  no  room  for  slavery,  poly- 
gamy, ruling  classes,  serving  masses,  castes,  aristocracies,  pa- 
riahs. Ihvh,  One  God,  hence  social,  political  and  civil  equality 
of  races,  individuals,  sexes  and  stations. 

III.  Ancient  Egypt,  as  everywhere  else,  had  classes  and 
masses,  freemen,  slaves,  and  subjugated  tribes,  the  weak 
and  poor,  women  and  children  ever  were  somebody's  property 
and  ever  obeyed.  The  many  gods  ever  were  at  war  with  each 
other;  so  were  the  many  races  at  war.  War  was  legitimate, 
and  power  the  test  of  right  and  truth.  The  vanquished  party, 
presumed  to  be  condemned  by  the  gods,  it  was  impiety  to 
rebel  against  the  victor.  The  One-God  doctrine  of  Mosaism 
and  the  Exodus  taught  as  its  necessary,  logical  result :  One 
human  race,  brotherhood,  one  right  for  all,  God  "who  loves 
the  stranger,  the  orphan  and  the  widow,"i  who  ordains :  "As 
a  fellow  citizen  among  you  be  unto  you  the  stranger,  thou 
shalt  love  him  as  thyself."  (Levit.,  19.)  At  no  time  is  this  in- 
culcation of  the  Mosaic  Law  so  necessary  as  just  now,  wdien 
the  grand,  luminous  idea  of  pan-humanity  is  obscured,  nay, 
nearly  supplanted,  by  a  narrow  nativism  or  nationalism,  racial 
prejudice,  which  really  is  but  crudity,  vanity  and  selfishness. 
The  son  says  to  the  father  and  the  daughter  to  the  mother: 
Step  back,  you  are  not  my  equal,  you  are  socially  my  inferior, 
you  are  a  foreigner,  I  a  native;  you  are  a  Dutchman,  a  Pole, 
Irish.  Your  mere  foreign  accent  is  your  pariah-stamp,  my  na- 
tive speech  and  manner  are  my  patent  of  nobility !  "Proud  is 
the  youth  towards  the  old  and  the  inferior  towards  the  vener- 
able."^  Mosaism  teaches  respect  and  justice  to  all  and  sym- 
pathy with  the  weak  and  prostrate,  with  woman  and  child, 


EGYPT  AND   INDIA.  63 

poor  and   slave.      Privilege   is   usurpation ;   equal,    free   citizens, 
no  classes  and  no  masses. 

IV.  In  Egypt  and  everywhere  else  v^as  the  priesthood 
pow^erful,  learned,  politically  predominant,  proprietors  of  the 
soil.  The  mass  of  the  people  w^as  prostrate,  ignorant,  priest- 
ridden  and  superstitious;  poor,  excluded  from  the  higher  pro- 
fessions and  the  government;  drudges  looking  up  to  that  sa- 
cred caste  as  the  mediators  and  oracles  of  the  gods.  Led  by 
Israel,  mankind's  ideal  became:  "A  kingdom  of  priests  and  a 
holy  nation;"!  all  educated  and  pure,  thinking  and  workings 
with  public  schools  and  free  instruction  for  all;  trades  and 
professions  free;  learning  and  bread,  the  soil,  a  farm  and  work 
for  all.  It  allows  not  one  doctrine  for  the  thinking  ones  and 
another  for  the  common  people ;  all  are  to  be  educated — all 
realizing  the  law,  all  holding  the  same  theories.  The  priesthood 
was  simply  one  of  the  many  social  professions,  elders,  pro- 
phets, teachers,  judges,  officials.  Thus  was  democracy  evolved 
from  Exodus  and  Bible.  That  Lincoln,  Gambetta,  Clemenceau, 
Disraeli,  Garfield  rose  to  the  top  of  the  social  scale,  from  the  low- 
est to  the  highest — that  was  achieved  by  reason  of  the  Exodus. 
The  French  and  American  presidents  are  the  historical  de- 
scendants of  Jephta,  Gideon  and  David. 

V.  In  Egypt,  as  everywhere  else,  the  king  had  the  all- 
power,  he  was  pontifex  maximus,  imperator,  legislator,  yea, 
owner  of  all.  Son  of  the  god,  ruling  by  divine  grace,  he  was 
the  fountain  of  the  law.  Conscience,  religion,  State,  people, 
soil,  all  was  his,  and  rebellion  was  blasphemy.  Israel's  Exo- 
dus revolutionized  these  notions :  God  is  king,  reason  and  law 
are  God's  emanations.  The  mortal  king  is  but  chief,  leader, 
judge,  executive  of  the  law.  The  law  is  his  guide  and  norm; 
he  is  but  a  brother,  the  first  citizen.  Three  thousand  and  five 
hundred  years  ago  God  promulgated  a  constitution  for  people 
and  king.2  The  king  was  deposed  when  disobedient  to  it  or  un- 
worthy; he  was  appointed  according  to  law,  confirmed  by 
the  people,  deposed  when  unfit  or  mischievous,  and  rebellion 
was  legitimate.^ 


2Critical  computation  reduces  it  to  2,500,  at  any  rate. 

3  It  is  interesting  that  the  first  Roman  kings  were  appointed  by  the- 
people  and  confirmed  by  the  Senate;  the  formula  was:  "The  people 
ordained."   (Titi  Levi,  historia.) 


64  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

We  have  surveyed  the  leading  traits  of  ancient  Egypt  and 
found  Hterally:  "On  all  the  gods  of  Egypt  I  shall  pass  condem- 
nation." All  its  gods,  all  its  institutions,  powers  and  principles 
have  been  vanquished  since,  in  State,  Church  and  Community. 
Osiris  and  Amon-Rha  and  all  the  other  triads,  the  Pharaohs 
and  the  hierarchs,  the  ruling  castes  and  pariah  masses,  the  bar- 
barism in  silk,  cotton  or  rags,  the  entire  rotten  civilization 
went  down  into  the  abyss  of  time.  Ihvh  alone  with  Israel 
remained.  Asking  then,  what  has  the  Exodus  and  its  platform 
achieved?  What  has  Israel  done  for  mankind?  What  gain 
of  new  ideas?  The  answer  is :  Not  polytheism,  mysteries  and 
incarnations,  but  Supreme  Mind,  a  nobler  world-conception, 
right  and  reason  have  been  elucidated  since.  Not  many  creations 
of  worlds,  races,  interests  and  wars,  but  One  God,  with  har- 
mony, justice  and  eternal  fitness,  sympathy,  solidarity,  peace 
and  good  will  is  the  social  ideal.  Not  kings,  despotism,  aris- 
tocracy, force  and  cunning,  but  democracy,  freedom,  equal  duties, 
and  rights ;  not  priesthood,  mediators,  oracles  and  myths ;  not 
dynasts,  heroes  and  privileges,  with  pariahs,  ignorance  and 
superstition,  but  free-born  men  and  women,  with  work,  bread, 
schools  and  education,  hearty  religiousness,  sincerity  and  piety, 
in  deed  and  in  feeling,  are  since  ever  more  emphasized  and 
asked;  not  castes  and  slaves,  but  equality,  citizenship,  man- 
hood and  deeds  are  cherished.  Not  woman  as  Pandora,  a  she- 
devil,  mother  of  slaves,  but  as  Eve,  the  Biblical  woman,  the 
tender,  active  helpmate,  mother  of  free  children,  toiling  and 
ruling,  sympathizing  and  building  up  the  family,  the  house, 
the  corner-stone  of  the  future;  not  dominant  and  subjugated 
races,  castes  and  paupers,  with  almsgiving,  over-reaching  and 
wretchedness,  but  solidarity  and  sympathy,  desiring  to  lift 
up  the  poor,  the  weak,  the  lazy  and  the  vicious ;  not  brute  force 
and  craftiness,  but  right,  truth,  reason  and  goodness,  are  our 
ideals.  The  breaking  down  of  the  ancient  Babylonia-Assyrian 
rule,  of  the  military  and,  of  the  priestly  regime,  and  the  dawn  of 
the  aera  of  right,  reason  and  fellow-feeling  is  marked  by  the 
Exodus  event.  Ihvh,  whom  Pharaoh  pretended  never  to  have 
heard  of,  saying:  "Who  is  Ihvh,  whose  voice  I  am  to  obey?" 
and  Israel,  whom  Pharaoh  deemed  his  bondmen  and  socager, 
good  for  labor  and  the  whip;  Ihvh,  Israel  and  the  principles  of 
the  Ten-Words,  inaugurated  by  the  Exodus,  have  in  the 
•course  of  3,500  years  changed  the  world's  aspects.     From  the 


EXODUS  IS  THE  AERA.  65 

entire  wrecked,  ancient  regime  of  the  Pharaohs,  Ihvli  and 
Israel  and  the  Decalogue  alone  have  remained.  Those  Exodus 
principles  extended  and  embodied  in  the  Bible,  are  the  basis  of 
the  present  State,  Society  and  Church.  No  kings,  no  military- 
regime,  no  aristocracy,  no  priesthood,  no  castes,  no  slaves;  but 
free  conscience,  the  heart's  true  religion,  public  schools,  free 
work,  right  and  duty  for  all  alike,  etc. ;  that  is  the  net  result 
of  the  Exodus,  the  achievements  since  3,500  years.  All  Egypt's 
glories  and  powers,  all  the  pagan  gods  are  broken  down — 
Ihvh  has  remained. 

And  that  is  what  is  designated  as  Israel's  priesthood,  his  hu- 
manitarian mission,  his  messiahship,  his  office  as  teacher,  his 
sacrifices  and  tribulations,  his  historic  martyrdom  and  crown 
of  thorns — such  claims  are  not  pretense  and  chauvinism,  not 
poetry  and  phrase,  they  are  historical  facts,  undeniable  by  every 
clear-sighted,  right-minded,  unbiased  student  of  history. 

That  advance  in  State  and  Church,  society  and  civic  life 
since  3,500  years,  mankind  has  achieved  under  the  leadership 
of  the  Bible  and  the  aera  of  the  Exodus ;  of  Israel  as  the  exponent 
of  the  pure  God-idea,  humanity-idea,  right-reason-and-state 
idea.  Behold  our  American  United  States !  A  hundred  years  ago 
it  had  a  population  of  three  millions,  now  eighty  millions ! 
Once  a  colony,  now  an  empire,  a  continent,  the  asylum  of  op- 
pressed mankind;  without  kings,  barons,  classes  and  Church 
despotism :  "Every  inhabitant  under  his  own  vine  and  his  fig 
tree."  No  standing  armies  and  no  wars,  but  arbitration 
courts  and  a  supreme  court;  new  states  ever  arising  in  the 
wilderness;  best  public  credit,  grand  industries,  enormous  ex- 
ports, schools  for  the  young  generation,  for  all  life,  liberty 
and  pursuit  of  happiness.  This  is  achieved  by  virture  of  the 
Exodus,  by  the  Biblical  civilization. 

But  is  all  this  really,  fully  achieved  ?  Is  Israel  now  superfluous  ? 
Have  the  nations  learned  all?  Even  here,  in  this  United 
States?  How  is  it  in  Europe?  How  on  this  terrestrial  globe? 
How  is  it,  that  even  this  United  States  had  its  recent  bloody, 
costly,  wasteful  wars?  How  is  it  with  the  Philippines?  Where- 
fore the  sacrifice  of  the  Boers?  And  the  wars  in  the  Balkans, 
Russia,  China,  Morocco,  and  the  strikes  and  the  pauperism,  and 
the  combinations  of  plutocracy,  of  the  trusts  cornering  the  bread 
of  the  poor  and  causing  dearth  in  the  midst  of  peace  and 


66  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

plentiful  crops?—  You  see,  Israel's  task  is  not  yet  fulfilled. 
It  is  being  done  since  the  Exodus,  but  it  is  poorly  done, 
only  half-heartedly.  Israel  championing  the  Bible  is  not 
superfluous,  no  anachronism.  He  is  needed  still  as  long  as  he 
practices  his  theory.  Mankind  needs  him  yet  a  while.  More 
education,  more  thinking,  and  his  work  for  and  with 
mankind  will  be  achieved  and  it  will  be  recognized  then. 
When  the  last  remnants  of  the  despotism  of  classes  and 
masses,  of  plutocracy  and  pauperism,  etc.,  shall  break  down, 
then  his  mission  will  be  done,  fulfilled  and  closed,  not  before. 
Mankind's  historical  stages  are  many  and  various.  Such 
stages  are  the  Chaldean  initiator,  Abraham,  the  Exodus  and  Mt. 
Sinai,  Mt.  Karmel,  the  Babylonian  captivity,  Ezra,  Judas  Mac- 
cabeus, Nazareth,  the  Nicaean  Council,  the  Hegira  to  Medi- 
nah,  the  Wartburg,  the  Protestant  Reformation  etc.  But  man- 
kind's great  historical  aera  is  to  be  counted — not  from  the 
Prench  and  the  American  Revolutions,  a  100  years  ago,  not  from 
Protestantism,  400  years  ago,  not  from  the  Reformer  of  Me- 
dinah,  1,300  years  ago,  not  from  the  moralist  of  Nazareth, 
1,900  years  ago,  but  from  Moses  and  Exodus,  3,500  years 
ago.  When  that  Exodus'  programme  will  be  fully  realized,  by 
all,  the  working  masses  and  the  thinking  classes,  when  the 
principles  of  the  Ihvh  religion,  of  the  Sinai  civilization  will  be 
realized,  in  theory  and  in  practice,  then  Israel  will  merge  into 
mankind,  his  task  being  done  and  fully  performed.  That  will 
be  the  universal  spring,  the  human  Passover,  the  world's  Fourth 
of  July,  redemption  from  the  despotism  of  king,  priest,  igno- 
rance, pauperism.!  Then  winter — war,  hate  and  envy — will  be 
over!  The  chilly,  gloomy  rain  storm  of  guild  and  creed  and 
race-prejudice  and  ill-will  be  gone;  the  buds,  blossoms  and 
flowers  of  helpfulness,  sympathy  and  broad  tolerant  humani- 
tarianism,  will  appear  all  over  the  land.  Then  the  time  of 
song  and  rejoicing  will  have  arrived  and  the  voice  of  the  dove 
of  peace  and  good  will,  of  love  of  next,  of  live  and  let  live,  of 
universal  freedom  and  right  for  all,  will  be  heard  all  over  the 
globe.     Then  Israel's  role  will  be  closed.     Then  the  pre-Sinaic, 


1  Solomon's  Songs,  II,  ii.  Behold,  winter  has  passed,  the  dismal  rain- 
storms are  gone  and  over,  blossoms  adorn  the  ground,  the  season  of 
song  has  arrived,  the  voice  of  the  dove  Is  heard  in  the  land. 


HISTORY   CORROBORATING.  67 

the  military  regimen  of  Assyria  and  Egypt  will  yield  to  that  of 
the  Exodus,  the  civilization  of  right,  industry  and  peace. 

About  half  a  generation  ago  I  read  of  a  German-Jewish 
thinker  w'ho,  starting  from  his  own  contemporaneous  environ- 
ments and  events,  said  something  excellent  to  this  point, 
strongly  corroborating  our  above  remarks  on  the  ideas  promul- 
gated during  the  period  of  the  Exodus  and  upheld  by  Israel 
to  this  day.  His  stand-point  was  contemporaneous  history, 
but  he  arrived  at  the  same  conclusions  as  advanced  in  these 
pages  contemplating  universal  history :  Our  present  times  are 
strikingly  and  saliently  marked  by  country  and  race  mania,  by 
an  exuberant  and  mad  nationality  feeling.  May  you  call  it  pan- 
germanism,  pan-slavism,  pan-latinism,  chauvinism  pure  and 
simple,  or  anti-Semitism,  it  is  ever  expressed  in  the  same 
barbarous  manner,  as  victorious  in  the  conflict  with  our  no- 
bler, human  consciousness  of  the  wiser  and  higher  pan-human- 
ity. Sadly  we  see  the  European  peoples  daily  ousting  and  dis- 
carding the  most  elementary  duties  of  human,  international 
justice,  and  enacting  harsh  laws  against  the  members  of  other 
nationalities  living  among  them,  motifying  such  harshness  by 
self-constituted  "States'-reasons",  by  which  thousands  of  inno- 
cent families  are  ruined  and  rendered  homeless.  The  States'- 
reason  thus  vanquishes  the  innate  feeling  of  humanity — on 
principle !  and  that  is  pure,  bare  barbarism !  That  places  our 
century  beneath  the  level  of  those  long  ago  passed  by.  The 
spokesmen  of  such  "patriotism  and  nationalism"  well  know  it, 
still  they  insist,  unblushingly,  remorselessly.  They  say :  "We 
care  not  to  ride  the  high  horse  of  cosmopolitanism  and  hu- 
manity. We  care  for  ourselves  and  our  own,  for  our  race,  our 
people  and  our  country.    Each  and  every  one  for  himself." 

The  appeal  to  the  sense  of  humanity  appears  properly  to 
belong  to  the  Jew,  the  spokesman  and  trusty  ally  of  liberal- 
ism. For  the  idea  of  humanity  inculcated  by  his  millennial 
Bible  requires  him  to  rise  to  that  of  cosmopolitanism,  and  that 
tallies  with  the  real  conditions  of  his  own  nationality,  which 
has  no  special  country  as  its  own.  Israel  proclaims  the  fra- 
ternity and  union  of  all  the  races  and  nations  on  earth. 
Whether  their  skin  be  white,  yellow,  daik  or  brown;  whether 
inhabiting  hot  or  cold  climes,  of  whatever  regimen,  idiom  and 
tongue,  they  ever  are  a  branch  of  the  same  one,  great,  human 
stock  and  tree,  members  of  the  same,  one,  human  family  and 


68  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE, 

are  all  to  live  together  justly,  peaceably,  helpfully,  fraternally. 
Now,  searching  the  literatures  and  codes  throughout  entire 
antiquity,  we  find  that  no  other  people  rose  to  that  breadth 
and  height,  to  such  a  vast  world-horizon,  a  grand  Welt-Anschau- 
ung.  Indeed,  how  could  they,  the  old  Gentiles,  with  their 
infinity  of  country,  city,  sea  and  island  gods?  How  could 
they  retain  any  fellow-feeling  for  tribes  and  peoples  beyond 
their  own  confines?..  .Otherwise  it  is  with  Israel.  Saliently 
and  plainly  did  he  grasp  with  his  higher  God-and-world-con- 
ception,  the  unity  of  mankind.  He  saw  clearly  the  separate 
and  special  vocation  and  mission  of  each  branch  thereof,  each 
having  its  own  task  in  the  Providential  plan,  but  all  forming 
one  grand  harmony,  all  in  concert  with  pan-humanity.  Our  sages 
said:  "Each  people  has  its  own  appointed  angel  or  genius  which 
it  must  never  neglect.  God  created,  in  his  wisdom,  the  diverse 
tribes  and  races,  in  order  to  unfold  and  mature  all  the  varieties 
and  capacities  of  human  nature,  and  bring  out  all  the  influ- 
ences of  their  environments." ...  In  order  to  favor  the  reaction 
against  liberalism,  it  has  been  tried  to  show  the  incompatibility 
of  the  national  principle  with  the  humanitarian  one.  As  if  the 
sense  of  family  is  incompatible  with  the  State-idea!  Humanity 
teaches  us  that  each  State  and  each  people  is  a  member  of  the 
one  great  human  family,  united  by  the  ties  of  civilization,  the 
reciprocal  duties  of  international  rights..  .These  ties  are  now 
greatly  relaxed  and  unstrung,  since  in  every  State  special 
guilds,  trades,  classes  and  parts  push  into  the  foreground  their 
respective,  particular  interests.  The  system  of  seclusion  and 
isolation  of  state  from  state,  and  of  race  from  race  in  each 
state,  is  an  obtruding,  regretable  feature  of  both  the  hemi- 
spheres. . . .  Shall  we  now,  under  such  ominous,  gloomy 
auspices  say  with  certain  wise-acres  that  Israel  and  his  Bible 
have  already  accomplished  their  task  of  unification  and  have  noth- 
ing more  to  do  for  human  amelioration? 

Open  the  law  books  of  the  old  and  of  the  new,  present,  na- 
tions, with  all  their  cunning  states-craft,  have  they  learned  the 
Categoric  Imperative  of  duty,  a  hundred  times  repeated  and 
inculcated  in  the  Sacred  Books,  the  great  lesson  of  pan-hu- 
manity, "Ye  shall  love  your  next,"  "Ye  shall  love  the  stranger"? 
As  the  sun  rises  from  the  gloom  of  dark  clouds,  even  so  stands 
out  the  benevolence  of  the  Biblical,  Jewish  spirit  which  gathers 
and  befriends  lovingly,  alike  native  and  stranger;  whose  law 


HISTORY  CORROBORATING.  69 

proclaims  justice  and  love  to  the  stranger!  and  which  pro- 
nounced "a  curse  against  him  who  would  bend  the  right  of  the 
stranger."  R.  Akiba,  murdered  by  Roman  hands,  inculcated 
that  "every  man  of  whatever  speech  and  race,  is  born  in  the 
image  of  God  and  we  owe  him  our  love."  A  Medrash  says : 
God  spoke  to  Moses:  "Do  not  believe  that  I  discriminate  be- 
tween Jew  and  Gentile.  Whoever  performs  a  good  deed,  I 
reward  him  according  to  his  merit.". .  ."We  have  witnessed  the 
brutal  treatment  of  Poles  and  Jews  in  Germany.  We  see  and 
are  horrified,  now,  by  the  same  misdeeds  in  Russia  and  Roumania, 
repeated  even  more  ruthlessly  and  shamelessly.  Can  we  say 
that  Israel's  doctrine  is  obsolete  and  supplanted  by  the  advent 
of  new  agents  and  times?  It  needs  but  an  honest  and  careful 
survey  of  present  history,  but  an  unbiased  estimate  of  the 
trend  of  things  to  learn  that,  the  mission  of  Israel,  as  the 
Biblical  people,  in  history,  is  not  yet  closed  and  accomplished, 
and  to-day  less  than  ever.  (From  "Oestr  Wochenschrift  of,  about 
the  year  1888,  in  general  outline.) 

MOSES,  FAITHFUL  TO  THE  LIVING  AND  THE  DEAD. 
(EXODUS  13:19.) 

One  of  the  most  noble  traits  of  the  ancient  Hebraic  character, 
one  of  those  features,  salient,  indelible  and  ever  reappearing, 
making  out  a  distinctive  mark  of  a  clan  and  people,  was  Israel's 
fidelity  to  the  living  and  the  dead,  the  adherence  to  the  past  and 
to  the  future,  to  the  race  and  the  family,  in  their  customs,  views 
and  aspirations.  Such  has  been  the  strong  tie,  the  unshaken  co- 
hesion of  the  members  to  the  one  body  of  united  Juda.  Though 
for  long  centuries  dispersed  all  over  the  entire  terrestrial  globe, 
still  they  felt  as  the  limbs  of  one  social  and  ethical  ethnos,  as  if 
breathing  with  one  breath  and  beating  with  one  pulse;  acknowl- 
edging their  mutual  solidarity,  their  common  task  and  faith,  as 
being  so  many  leaves  of  one  tree ;  they  felt  this  to  such  a  degree 
that  when  they  heard  of  some  triumph  or  some  disaster  of  their 
bretheren  in  another  part  of  the  world,  they  ever  sympathized  as  if 
personally  concerned  therein,  without  regard  to  speech,  distance, 
country  or  condition.  Such  was  old  Israel,  described  in  history. 
Such  was  his  fidelity  and  adherence  to  the  living  and  to  the  dead. 
And  this  leading  national  trait,  historically  again  and  again  re- 
curring, is  the  import  of  Exodus,   13:19.     Moses  took  up  the 


70  EXODUS.  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

bones  of  Joseph,  who,  before  dying,  had  made  the  Children  of 
Israel  promise:  "When  God  will  remember  you  (and  lead  you 
back  to  your  own  country)  then,  pray,  take  up  my  bones 
hence  with  you."  —  When  Moses  had  matured  his  great 
design  of  Israel's  redemption,  when  availing  himself  of  the 
means  of  salvation  which  Providence  ever  holds  ready  at  the  dis- 
posal of  true  liberators  and  initiators  of  genius,  rare  resources 
and  modes  of  wonderful  ways  and  means,  which  by  their  grand- 
eur and  their  extraordinary  character,  come  down  to  later  admir- 
ing and  grateful  generations  as  miraculous  and  supernatural; 
when  after  long  efforts  and  trials  and  utilizing  the  providential 
circumstances,  he  had  rung  out  the  reluctant  consent  of  the 
Pharaoh  to  the  departure  of  the  enslaved  people;  when  the 
myriads  of  that  discordant  population  hastening  on  all  sides,  were 
to  be  collected  in  rank  and  file  and  be  placed  according  to  order 
and  plan;  when  that  host  of  men,  women  and  children,  with  the 
motely  horde  of  the  riff-raff  (Ereb-rab)  and  the  irrrmense  crowds 
of  flocks  and  heaps  of  chattels  were  to  be  orderly  arranged  and 
begin  the  difficult  and  dangerous  issue  from  Egypt — at  that 
critical,  earnest  hour,  what  occupied  the  pious  attention  of  the 
great  leader?  The  ashes  of  the  last  patriarch!  He  remembered 
and  did  not  forget  to  take  along  with  himself  that  casket  con- 
taining the  venerable  remains  of  Joseph,  the  Egyptian  vice-roy, 
the  fellow  Hebrew  shepherd  and  sire.  For  that  had  been  his 
wish  and  last  request,  as  in  Genesis  50  :24 :  "Joseph  said  to  his 
brethren,  I  am  going  to  die  and  God  will  remember  you  and  re- 
turn you  to  the  land  of  your  fathers , . .  Then  do  promise  me  to 
take  up  my  bones  with  you,"  So  now  Moses  fulfilled  this  sacred 
promise  to  the  illustrious  dead.  Ponder  over  that  trait :  Joseph, 
at  the  head  of  Egypt,  the  proudest  country  of  those  times ;  he, 
second  only  to  Pharaoh,  the  proudest  monarch  of  antiquity,  he 
the  "father"  and  friend  of  a  great  country  which  he  had  saved  from 
starvation  during  a  famine;  Joseph,  at  the  height  of  glory  and 
foremost  at  the  Egyptian  throne,  before  dying,  besought  his 
brethren  to  take  up  his  relics  with  them,  on  returning  home, 
forgetting  his  sad  experiences  at  their  hands,  and,  remembering 
but  their  family  ties,  that  they  were  kindred,  sprang  from  the 
same  seed,  the  same  blood. 


THE  TWO  ARKS.  71 

Joseph  preferred  to  the  pomp  of  a  royal  monument  by  some 
obeUsk  or  in  the  famous  Egyptian  labyrinth,  the  far-famed  death- 
city  of  the  Pharaohs,  a  humble  mound  in  his  native  country,  in 
Sichem,  whence  he  had  been  torn  away  and  sold  into  slavery.  To 
the  superb  mausoleum,  amidst  the  scenes  of  his  vice-royalty,  he 
preferred  a  humble  hillock  among  his  brethren;  they  had  sold 
him  into  slavery,  but  still  they  were  his  brethren.  What  a  mag- 
nanimous adherence  to  family  and  country,  to  blood  relationship 
and  affinity ! 

Whose  imagination  is  not  vivacious  enough,  whose  heart  is  not 
warm  enough,  as  not  to  feel  deeply  touched  by  this  noble  trait  of 
fidelity  to  his  living-  brethren  and  to  his  dead  fathers ! 

This  noble  trait  in  the  old  Hebrew  physiognomy,  unshaken  and 
eternal  adherence  to  the  living  and  to  the  dead,  so  prominent,  so 
deep-seated,  so  all-pervading  the  ancient  Jewish  character,  is  first 
depicted  in  the  noble  narrative  we  have  taken  as  our  theme. 

Consider  and  ponder  over  it.  It  is  a  gem  irradiating  light  from 
all  its  points :  Joseph,  the  viceroy  of  Egypt,  prays  his  brethren 
to  take  up  with  themselves  his  remains  when  returning  to  their 
native  pasturing  grounds.  And  Moses,  occupied  with  the  creation 
of  a  new  nation,  on  the  point  of  beginning  that  most  difficult  and 
memorable  enterprise  which  history  has  ever  recorded  as  the 
greatest  feat  of  antiquity,  Moses  does  take  up  with  himself  the 
venerable  coffin  containing  the  bones  of  the  departed  chieftain 
and  thus  redeems  the  promise  given  by  the  dead  to  the  dead. 

In  Greece,  but  more  so  in  Rome,  on  extraordinary  occasions 
and  on  great  conquerors,  a  special  national  honor  was  conferred, 
viz. :  When  the  victorious  imperator  returned  home,  laden  v\^ith 
spoils,  from  a  great  and  successful  military  expedition,  he  v/as 
given  the  rare,  unique  honor  of  a  triumph ;  he  entered  Rome  as 
triumphator,  attended  with  great  pomp,  a  brilliant  procession  and 
cortege,  gorgeously  clad  in  a  purple  mantle,  with  a  golden  laurel 
on  his  brow,  riding  on  a  magnificent  state  chariot,  bands  of  musi- 
cians preceding  him,  guards  of  honor  surrounding  him,  the  vic- 
torious army  in  gala  dress  following  him,  the  names  of  the  battles 
won,  the  provinces  conquered  and  the  cities  taken  exhibited  to  the 
public  gaze ;  half-starved,  sorry  looking,  long  lines  of  prisoners  of 
war,  with  their  captured  chiefs  and  princes  in  chains  followed. 


72  EXODUS,   MOSES   AND  THE   DECALOGUE. 

sometimes  even,  each  with  a  rope  around  his  neck;  the  Roman 
people  shouting  wildly,  an  immense  crowd  of  admiring,  hilarious 
and  vociferating  mob  closing  this  triumphal  procession, ^  the  great- 
est exhibition  in  ancient  Rome.  Such  was  the  highest  distinction 
a  Roman  could  aspire  at,  in  the  most  brilliant  ancient  empire, 
dating  from  the  very  dawn  of  history.  Such  was  the  triumphal 
march  of  the  victorious  imperators.  Compare  now  this  with  the 
Exodus,  the  triumphal  march  of  Moses  and  Israel  over  van- 
quished Egypt.  When  Moses  started  on  his  world  renowned 
issue  from  Egypt,  the  only  trophy  he  caused  to  be  borne  before 
his  victorious  ranks,  was  a  sarcophagus  enshrining  the  sacred 
ashes  of  a  patriarch !  Here  is  in  embryo  a  leading  characteristic 
of  Juda  to  this  day.  Pointedly  and  with  pardonable  national 
pride  the  Medrash  here  remarks  (ad  lociim^)  repeately  coming 
back  to  this  interesting  theme : 

"Come  and  see  how  much  devoted  Moses  was  to  the  sacred 
duty  of  fidelity  to  and  veneration  for  the  dead.  Whilst  all  the 
other  Hebrews  were  occupied  with  plundering  their  Egyptian 
plunderers  and  tyrants,  he  remembered  the  request  of  Joseph  and 
made  it  his  duty  to  fulfill  it,  to  practice  'true  love  towards  the 
dead'  (Hessed  shel  Bmeth)  to  fulfill  the  promise  his  sires  had 
made  to  a  dying  brother."  Here  is  the  criterion  of  a  real  leader ; 
whilst  the  people  are  preoccupied  with  the  desires  and  passions 
of  the  hour,  he  fixes  his  earnest  thoughts  upon  interests  everlast- 
ing, teaching  virtues  by  practicing  them. 

Again,  legend  narrates :  Joseph,  when  making  his  last  recom- 
mendation to  his  friends,  wished  his  body  to  rest  with  his  fathers 
and  to  spiritually  live  with  his  posterity ;  he  thus  showed  his  ten- 
der and  high  sense  for  the  past  and  for  the  future.  Even  so 
Moses,  he,  too,  was  pious,  tender  and  faithful  towards  the  dead, 
and  he  was  no  less  so  towards  the  living.  So  a  beautiful  legend 
narrates,  again:  When  Moses,  at  the  head  of  the  march  of  the 
hosts  of  Israel,  left  Egypt  and  began  his  memorable  expedition 
towards  the  Land  of  Promise,  he  was  preceded,  not  by  one,  but  by 

1  Tacitus  Historia,  lib.  V.,  50.  Senatus  duplicem  triumphum  principl 
et  Caesarem  decrevit.  Wlien  Titus  held  his  triumphal  march,  the  Jew- 
ish war  leaders  followed  with  a  rope  around  their  neck  each. 

nnn  ipovn:  i^Niti"  ^3  .ij-'^i  nro  bv  niivon  nwm  hod  nxii  n3  2 


THE  TWO  ARKS,  HISTORICAL  EMBLEMS.  73 

two  caskets,  covering  two  arks.  The  one  contained  the  ashes 
of  the  dead  patriarch  Joseph,  and  the  other  was  destined  to  re- 
ceive the  two  tablets  of  stone,  the  Decalogue,  the  Law  of  the 
living  God.    And  the  wondering  nations  inquired^   (Ibidem)  : 

"What  mean  these  two  arks,  so  diverse  of  contents  and  so  close 
by  each  other?  Why  is  this  casket  of  the  dead  going  along  with 
the  throne  of  Eternal  Life?"  And  they  were  answered:  "Because 
this  dead  man  here  had  performed,  when  alive,  the  commandments 
there  of  the  Ever  Living."  Why  did  Moses  and  Israel  march  on 
with  the  ark  of  Joseph  and  with  the  Ark  of  God  i.n  the  van? 
Because  Moses  and  Israel  practiced  fidelity  to  the  dead  and  to  the 
living,  the  past  and  the  future,  to  the  dead,  dry  bones  and  to 
the  living  eternal  spirit;  hence  was  the  Exodus  preceded  by 
the  Ark  of  the  Covenant  and  the  ark  with  Joseph's  ashes. 

Indeed,  when  closely  examining  Jewish  history  since  that  very 
Exodus,  we  shall  find  that  it  may  well  be  symbolized  by  these 
two  arks,  one  representing  veneration  of  the  body  and  the  other 
veneration  of  the  spirit,  representing  the  race  and  the  doctrine, 
the  fathers  and  the  children,  country  and  God,  conservatism  and 
advance,  past  and  future.  No  other  nation  on  earth  was  ever  so 
conservative  and  yet  so  progressive,  so  tenacious  of  the  past  and 
still  so  eager  of  future  innovations,  so  backwardly  stiff-necked 
and  so  recklessly  forward  and  onward.  This  is  perhaps  the  most 
salient  characteristic  of  the  Jewish  ethnical  temperament.  A 
"kingdom  of  priests"  and  a  "stiff-necked  people,"^  orthodox  and 
radical,  worshipping  the  dry  bones  and  the  Ever  Living  Spirit. 
That  has  been  the  puzzle  of  psychologists  and  the  difficulty  of 
Hebraic  leaders;  the  living  mummy  of  times  gone-by,  and  the 
enigmatic  sphinx  of  times  to  come ;  championing  conservatism 
with  legitimacy,  and  ever  ready,  standing  on  the  barricades  of  re- 
volution; cherishing  the  remnants  of  the  past  and  inaugurating 
boldly  new  epochs.    What  a  variety  of  genius,  character  and  type. 


nn  no  btj*  uns  nr  :DnrDix  jni  ?ib:'n  m:r.K  ':^  b^  itd  .id  :Dn»ix 
inx  ny  ^bn»  no  ^k^itd  no  -.u'?)]}  moix  nnoix  ;D^o^iyn  ^n  b^  unx 
.nr  jnxn  nnsK'  no  D^^p  nr  pixn  niion  tonoix  jni  ?D"'Dpiyn  ^n  ^ej* 

(Yalkut,  Beshalah) 

D^JHD  nD!)Oo  .ciiiy  nc'p  Dy  = 


74  EXODUS,    MOSES    AND    THE    DECALOGUE, 

representing  both  conservatism  and  progress!  Compare  the  m 
novator  Abraham,  with  his  modern  descendants,  Lasalle  and  Karl 
Marx,  Jules  Simon,  Cremieux ;  Moses  son  Amram,  with  Disraeli 
and  Lasker;  Judas  Maccabeus  and  Moses  Montefiore!  That  is 
the  Janus  head,  the  two-faced  physiognomy  of  the  Jewish  race, 
for  these  4,000  years,  our  two  arks  of  the  Exodus,  the  dry  bones 
and  the  eternal  spirit,  the  coffin  with  the  dead  ashes,  and  the  Ark 
with  the  ever  living  Law.  This  is  the  enigma  and  secret,  the  cha- 
melion  features  of  historic  Israel.  Npw  it  may  be,  however  puz- 
zling, that  just  that  double-sidedness,  joining  past  and  future, 
constitutes  him  as  the  bearer  of  progress,  and  these  two  arks 
symbolize  conservatism  and  advance.  True  advance  is  the  con- 
ciliation of  the  past  with  the  future,  the  dead  ashes  and  the  living 
spirit.  The  past  alone  is  petrifaction.  The  future  alone  is  a  will- 
of-the-wisp;  it  unhinges  and  shatters.  Both  in  right  proportion 
make  for  safe  progress.  History  ever  represents  both  these 
stages :  Stagnation  and  revolution,  making  for  evolution,  action, 
reaction,  and  compromise;  that  makes  history,  developing  the 
spirit  of  the  future  from  the  very  ashes  of  the  past.  This  may  be 
the  secret  spring  of  mankind's  history.  Israel  is  its  leaven.  He 
is  the  nucleus  of  conservatism  and  the  germ  of  human  advance. 
The  conservative  Moses  Montefiore,  the  liberal,  genial  Adolphe 
Cremieux,  the  going-ahead  Lasker  or  Bamberger,  are  but  phases 
of  the  same  Hebrew  character.  Thus  what  is  the  puzzle  of  the 
psychologist,  and  the  enigma  of  history,  that  many-sidedness  of 
Hebraic  idiosyncrasy,  just  that  is  the  proper  feature  of  the  Patri- 
archal people.  As  the  hardest  marble  is  the  fittest  for  lasting 
sculptures,  even  so  is  just  the  "stiff-necked  people"  the  fittest  for 
the  "kingdom  of  priests,"  for  the  vanguard  of  advancing  man- 
kind. 

This  double  fidelity,  to  the  past  and  the  future,  to  the  living 
and  to  the  dead,  Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob  and  Joseph  represented 
during  their  age;  whilst  Moses,  prophets,  Israel  have  since  been 
practicing  and  exemplifying  it.  So  Joseph  was  cruelly  treated  by 
his  brethren,  yet  he  remained  true  and  forgiving  to  them.  Jacob 
was  twice  driven  from  Khanaan,  yet  he  longed  for  it.  Moses  was 
betrayed  and  spited  by  his  brethren  and  denounced  to  Pharaoh, 
yet  he  lived  and  labored  for  them,  attributing  their  spite  to  their 
ill-starred  fatc.^    Every  true,  patriotic  leader  is  ill  treated  by  his 

II  M.,  vi.,  9.     njj'p  muyoi  nn  lyipD  ^ 


AMERICAN  ISRAEL.  75 

brethren,  yet  he  remains  true  and  faithful  to  their  cause.  Historic 
Juda  for  long  centuries  has  been  maltreated  by  his  brethren,  the 
peoples  of  the  globe,  still  he  is  true  to  their  dead  and  to  their  liv- 
ing. He  rescued  for  them  everything  grand  and  good  entailed 
from  antiquity ;  and  he  is  continually  laboring  for  their  future, 
for  their  moral,  intellectual,  economic  and  religious  advancement. 

Preceded  by  these  two  arks,  the  symbols  of  adherence  and  faith- 
fulness to  the  dead  and  to  the  living,  to  man  and  to  God,  Israel 
and  Moses  began  their  millennial  march  from  Egypt  throughout 
the  world.  And  since  that  epoch  Juda  has  never  lost  sight  of 
this,  his  twofold  task.  He  is  forming  the  hanging-bridge  over 
the  abyss  stretching  between  time  and  eternity,  between  man  and 
God,  the  connecting  link  between  the  past  and  the  future  ages 
and  generations. 

We  have  seen  that  there  is  not  another  nation  so  tenacious  of  old 
ideas  and  forms,  and  so  eager  for  innovations ;  so  much  conserva- 
tive and  stiff-necked,  and  at  the  same  time  so  boldly  and  recklessly 
pushing  forward  and  onward.  We  have  seen  that  this  headstrong 
conservatism  is  the  identical  feature,  observed  psychologically, 
long  ago :  "Thou  art  a  stiff-necked  people."  This  veneration  of 
dead  bones  and  ashes,  and  this  adoration  of  the  Ever-Living  Spirit, 
this  tenacity  to  his  noble  doctrines  and  also  to  the  forms  of  the  past, 
are  the  backbone  of  his  continuity  and  the  cross-bar  to  his  re- 
generation. It  is  the  enigma  of  history.  It  is  the  great  puzzle 
of  the  psychologist.  It  is  the  difficulty  in  the  way  of  the  Hebrew 
patriot,  the  difficulty  to  reconcile  the  tenacious  and  persevering 
veneration  of  the  Jew  for  the  past  and  his  eagerness  for  the  new 
requirements  of  the  present  and  future ;  his  carrying  always  along 
with  himself,  under  one  arm  a  coffin  with  dry  bones,  and  under 
the  other,  the  holy  Ark  of  Eternal  Life.  This  is  an  element  of 
strength,  but,  if  not  reconciled,  a  drawback,  a  stumbling  block  in 
the  way  of  improvement,  reconstruction  and  regeneration.  For  in 
the  wise  conciliation  of  these  two  opposite  principles  consists  real 
humane  betterment.  To  start  from  the  past  and,  without  a  break, 
march  towards  an  improved  future,  to  unfold  and  elicit  the 
future  from  the  very  past,  to  distill  the  spirit  from  the  very  dry 
bones,  this  is  healthy  progress. 

Now,  how  is  it  with  our  cis-Atlantic  American  Brethren?  This 
faithfulness  to  the  ashes  of  the  fathers,  and  also  to  the  Spirit  of 
the  Eternal  God,  this  adherence  to,  and  this  veneration  of,  their 


76  EXODUS,    MOSES    AND    THE    DECALOGUE. 

mortal  persons  and  of  their  living  ideas — is  it  alive  in  American 
Israel  ?  Is  it  ?  Hard  to  tell !  must  be  the  candid  answer  of  every 
honest  observer.  Considered  en  block  and  generally,  the  American 
Orthodoxy  worship  the  ashes,  but  not  the  spirit,  not  the  aspirations 
of  the  fathers ;  and  as  often  the  American  Reform  neglects  both, 
the  dry  bones  and  the  spirit.  That  the  young  generation,  as  of 
olden  times,  shed  sincere  tears  at  the  death-bed  of  a  parent,  bestow 
an  honorable  burial,  devoutly  observe  the  days  of  mourning,  the 
anniversary,  etc.,  that  they  recite  the  requiem  Kadcsh,  that  they 
often  remember  the  event  by  charitable  deeds,  that  they  becom- 
ingly dress  in  mourning;  that  we  will  cheerfully  acknowledge. 
American  Israel  has  done  well,  economically,  civically,  practi- 
cally, as  we  shall  soon  discuss.  He  even  has  greatly  improved  and 
gained  over  European  forms  in  the  Ghetto,  ^ 

But,  Oh,  American  Israel !  is  that  all  we  shour  remember  of  our 
fathers  and  mothers  ?  Do  you  think  to  perform  an  act  of  filial  piety 
by  praying  at  the  shrine  of  the  venerable  relics  of  your  sires,  and 
entirely  neglecting  every  thing  else  which  was  dear  to  their  souls 
and  their  hearts  ?  To  worship  at  the  coffin  with  the  dry  bones,  and 
disregard  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the  Living  Spirit !  Ortho- 
doxy means  correct  doctrines  and  correct  forms,  the  inculcation  of 
the  first  and  the  observation  of  the  latter,  the  sanctification  of 
both  as  soul  and  body.  Unfortunately  the  reality  does  not  tally 
with  that.  There  is  no  use  mincing.  Economically  the  American 
Jew  has  done  well  enough.  In  practical  charity  he  is  second 
to  none.  But  mentally,  educationally,  spiritually,  he  has  fallen 
short  of  his  historical  standard.  The  Orthodoxy,  we  now  behold, 
neglects  the  spirit  of  Judaism  and  clings  solely  to  the  observances, 
the  dry  bones  of  the  past.  And  as  to  Reform,  it  appears  to  turn 
its  back  upon  both,  the  spirit  and  the  letter.  There  is  a  begin  of 
disintegration.  The  ShulhanfAruch  Code  prescribes  a  thousand 
ceremonies,  they  are  the  handles  to  hold  the  Jewish  spirit.  They 
are  the  spiritualization  of  the  matter,  connecting  the  body  and 
the  soul  of  religion.  Whilst  Reform  minds  the  spirit  above 
the  letter,  it  asks  more  care  for  the  living  doctrines,  declar- 
ing the  ancient  observances  as  temporal  and  circumstantial.  Still 
Orthodoxy  and  Reform  agree  and  both  equally  cling  to  the  spirit. 
But  the  actual  American  Orthodoxy  seems  to  mind  the  dry  bones 
and  neglect  the  eternal,  living  teachings.  Whilst  the  Reform 
exhibited  in  America  seems  to  care  neither  for  the  bones  nor  for 
the  soul,  neither  for  matter  nor  for  mind.    Where  is  the  old-time 


AMERICAN  ISRAEL.  ^y 

Jewish  mentality,  spirituality,  morality,  education?  Discarding 
cant  and  looking  to  facts,  we  find  that  life,  family,  home  and 
market  all  exhibit  indifference ;  indifference  alike  within  both 
parties.  In  worship,  the  one  retains  all  the  Ghetto  mummies,  the 
other  exhibits  the  elegances  of  modern  life  and  empty  show.  In 
both  is  divine  service  cold,  ineffectual,  offering  nothing  to  either 
heart  or  head,  feeling  or  brain.  They  come  to,  and  go  from 
worship — as  empty  as  before. 

American  Orthodoxy  walks  around  open-eyed,  yet  blind,  as  do 
somnambulists,  ostensibly  bearing  the  coffin  of  the  past,  but  un- 
mindful of  the  future.  American  Reform  walks  around  blind  to 
the  past  and  just  as  careless  of  the  future,  both  parties  never  cal- 
culate: What  will  become  of  the  young,  neglected  in  their 
ethical  education?  Parents,  do  remember!  Your  economical 
savings  are  divided  by  your  several  children.  Your  racial  acqui- 
sitions, if  well  preserved,  would  pass  entirely  to  each  of  them. 
Unfortunately  in  mind  and  in  body,  your  inherited  virtues  are 
wasted:  Penny  wise,  pound  foolish!  Or  do  I  exaggerate,  over- 
draw, caricature  the  picture  ?  L<et  us  have  some  self-evident  stat- 
istical proofs.  Reckon !  France  has  but  70,000  Jews,^  yet  what 
a  phalanx  of  superior  Hebrew  statesmen,  authors,  scholars,  artists, 
does  she  not  exhibit,  as  among  the  very  best  of  her  sons  ?  How 
many  English  Jews  have  not  distinguished  themselves  in  politics, 
in  modern  pursuits,  in  secular  learning,  in  the  arts,  navy  and  army? 
What  a  host  of  German,  Austrian,  Hungarian,  Russian  Jews 
do  not  stand  forth  to  grace /the  Hebrew  name  and  benefit  their 
respective  countries?  Now,  how  do  American  Jews  compare  in 
this  respect?  We  have  here  one  and  three-quarter  million  of 
Israelites.  A  few  are  distinguished  in  finance  and  in  industry. 
Many  fine  charitable  institutions  have  been  created.  But  on  the 
whole  we  have  few  really  superior  men.  Science  and  character 
are  neglected,  veracity  and  frankness  are  silenced,  pretense  and 
bombast  upheld.  Where  are  our  American  Moses  Monte- 
fiores,  Jessels,  Cremieux,  Mendelssohns,  Riesers,  Geigers,  Gratzes  ? 
True  we  are  but  half  a  century  here.  Nevertheless  the  reigning 
mediocrity  is  ominous,  beware ! 

The  old  Kohanhn  (Ahronida6),  devoted  to  teaching,  worship, 
religion  and  purity,  were  forbidden  to  touch  anything  dead,  as 
corpses,  graves,  cemeteries.    They  were  to  give  up  all  spiritless. 


1  Before  the  recent  influx  from  East  Europe. 


78  EXODUS,    MOSES    AND    THE    DECALOGUE. 

decayed  forms  and  superstitions,  the  dry  bones  of  ages  gone  by. 
They  were  to  constantly  occupy  themselves  with  live  concerns, 
learning,  teaching  and  inspiring.  They  were  to  exemplify  supe- 
rior intellectual  and  moral,  humane  life,  improvement,  goodness, 
holiness,  godliness.  Our  American  Orthodoxy  should  mind  the 
lesson  in  its  first  part :  to  abstain  from  dead  matter ;  our  American 
Reform  should  remember  the  latter  half  of  this  injunction :  It 
reduced  the  observances,  but  induced  no  ethics !  Qaddish  and 
Jahrseit  and  Bar-Mizvah  are  good,  as  forms  and  ceremonials. 
But  the  sires'  aspirations,  the  faith  in  God,  in  the  truth,  in  the 
ultimate  victory  of  right-living,  nobility,  sincerity,  conviction,  cul- 
ture, principle,  that  is  absent.  They  had  Sabbath  and  holidays,  leis- 
ure for  books,  devotion  and  meditation.  Study  was  the  highest  to 
them,  outweighing  all  the  commandments.  They  really  stood,  in 
the  Ghetto,  intellectually  higher  than  in  the  mansion.  We  have 
now  not  an  hour  for  worship  or  self-culture.  We  are  wealthy, 
rich  in  fineries  and  luxuries,  but  poor  in  spirit,  culture,  refinement. 
How  can  we  make  good  our  historical  claim  to  be  the  "elected  peo- 
ple," a  "kingdom  of  priests  and  holy  nation  ?"  By  selling  the  Sab- 
bath and  gambling  the  Sunday  ? .  . .  The  Orthodox  dry  bones  and 
the  elegant  reform  temples  with  music  will  not  render  us  better. 
The  Sabbaths  and  holidays  are  the  time  appropriated  to  bring  out 
the  "kingdom  of  priests  and  holy  nation."  The  Rest  and  Holidays 
made  of  Juda  the  "elected  people,"  devoted  to  knowledge,  to 
spirituality  to  the  worship  of  the  One,  Living  God  in  Spirit. 
American  Israel,  what  is  the  knowledge  now  cultivated,  what  is 
the  spirituality  now  aspired  at,  what  is  the  worship  offered  to 
God?  They  have  erected  proud  temples?  But  how  chilly  is  the 
atmosphere  there !  The  entire  year,  save  a  day  or  two,^  they  stand 
deserted,  with  all  their  elegance  and  pomp ;  their  lectures  and  ser- 
mons— dry  bones!  Nobody  teaches  or  learns.  The  Prayers  are 
read — by  the  reader,  but  no  devotion  and  no  congregation.  Twenty 
years  longer,  and  even  that  will  disappear.  At  the  head  of  con- 
gregations are  often  placed  men,  in  every  sense  unprepared  for 
their  task,  men  with  neither  the  learning  nor  the  character  of 
their  station;  men  who  take  their  models  from,  the  stage,  not 
from  Isaiah  and  Micah,  who  are  to  cater  and  fawn,  not  instruct, 
whilst  the  conscientious  minister  is  over-ruled,  frowned  down,  at 
last  ousted  by  the  ignorant  in  the  yearly  elections.  It  is  not  he  who 

iNew  Year  and  Atonement. 


AMERICAN  ISRAEL.  79. 

guides ;  no,  he  must  hush  and  obey  or  leave,  give  up  his  con- 
science or  the  bread  of  his  family  and  make  room  for  a  more 
pliable  orator.  Kind  reader !  I  trust  your  better  conscience  wilt 
approve  of  this  outspokenness,  and  your  good  American  common 
sense  will  suggest  to  you  the  urgent  necessity  of  remedying  these 
crying  evils. 

Thus,  without  the  Sabbath  and  holidays,  our  noble  rest-and 
recreation  days,  the  first  calling  to  our  mind  the  people  of  spiritu- 
ality, the  latter  our  relation  as  to  nationality,  country,  history, 
what  shall  become  of  our  task  as  the  "kingdom  of  priests  and  holy 
nation?"  How  shall  we  hand  down  Qur  mission  to  our  posterity 
on  behalf  of  fellow-mankind?  Or  shall  we  belie  ourselves  and 
think  to  do  it  by  the  mere  forms  and  observances,  neglecting  the 
Ark  of  the  tablets  of  the  Ever  Living  ancestral  God,  and  worship, 
alone,  at  the  sacred  ashes?  Or  can  the  Reform  imagine  to  do 
it  by  the  elegant  temples,  the  fine  choirs,  and  the  rhetoric  ?  Will 
they  preserve  the  spiritual  heritage  of  the  ancestors  by  costly 
pews,  gilt  prayer-books,  scanty  confirmation  lessons,  and  services 
of  state,  mere  show  and  ostentation  ?  Have  not  the  ancient  Greek 
and  Roman  temples  had  just  as  much  music,  architecture,  and  ele- 
gance? and  still  they  miserably  collapsed  at  the  onslaught  of  re- 
ligious zeal?  What  is  needed  is  conviction,  principle,  education, 
devotion,  energy,  higher  humane  life.  Alas  for  Judaism,  if  mere 
observances  or  temple  oratory  will  be  its  anchor  of  salvation ;  if  we 
shall  hand  down  to  our  posterity  no  longer  theholyArk  of  Eter- 
nal Life,  but  that  of  the  venerable  ashes  of  past  recollections,  the 
mere  symbols  without  their  contents,  or  the  mere  pomp  without 
substance  and  soul.  Reformers  !  consider :  Reform — and  no  Sab- 
bath, and  no  holiday,  no  instruction,  no  good  example,  nothing 
but  business  and  frivolity,  thoughtlessness  and  worldliness.  O,  ye 
Orthodox !  Orthodoxy  and  no  Sabbath,  and  no  Holidays,  but 
ignorance  and  bad  example,  hypocrisy  and  make-shift !  Is  that 
Reform?  Is  that  Orthodoxy?  Is  it  not  a  misnomer,  either  of 
them?  American  Israel,  ye  boast  so  much  of  your  civilization, 
your  flourishing  condition,  your  sacrifices  for  your  inherited  faith. 
But  are  you  not  rather  hilarious  at  the  brink  of  ruin?  Don't 
you  close  your  eyes  and  stop  your  ears  in  presence  of  stern  facts, 
of  religious,  mental  and  moral  decadence? 

(Isaiah  1:2)  "Listen,  O  ye  heavens,  for  God  is  speaking! 
Children  I  have  reared  and  exalted,  but  they  have  rebelled..  . 
Hear,  O  ye  Lords  of  Sodom,  of  what  use  your  many  sacrifices. 


80  EXODUS,    MOSES    AND    THE    DECALOGUE, 

jour  pomp  and  ceremonies. .. Your  Sabbath,  moon  and  holidays 
try  My  divine  patience,  your  prayers  are  but  Hp-service  and 
your  devotions,  Hes.  (Is.  58.)  Call  aloud,  spare  not,  tell  My 
people  their  wrong-doings  and  the  patriarchal  house  their  hypo- 
crisies!"  Why,  we  fast  and  pray  but  Thou  seest  not?  "Indeed,  on 
your  very  fast-days  you  think  at  your  advantage,  ostentation  and 
amusement.  No !  Otherwise  is  the  fast  I  choose :  Loosen  the 
iDonds  of  trusts  and  monopolies,  disentangle  the  business  methods ; 
free  the  weaker  of  crushing  competition,  live  and  let  live !  Then 
shall  your  light  shine  as  mid-day-sun  and  your  prosperity  flourish 
as  the  Eden-Garden..  .^ 

BRIGHT    SIDES. 

And  nevertheless  the  picture  of  American  Israel  does  not  lack 
its  bright  sides  either :  Bright  and  cheering,  manifold  and  sub- 
stantial, encouraging  to  great  hopes  in  a  near  future.  He  counts 
up  now,  in  1909,  to  nigh  a  million  and  three-fourths  of  people. 
Economicaly  all  do  fairly.  A  few  are  wealthy.  Many  are  well- 
lO-do;  all,  nearly,  earn  their  bread,  laboriously,  in  the  sweat  of 
their  brow,  yet  comfortably,  in  comparison  with  the  Ghetto.  Their 
ranks  count,  comparatively,  but  few  lawbreakers.  All,  even  the  re- 
cent immigrants,  have  a  decent  appearance;  are  cleanly,  orderly, 
providing  for  the  family,  saving  for  the  future,  sending  their  chil- 
dren to  school,  teaching  them  diverse  crafts ;  many  enter  the  pro- 
fessions, some  even  are  in  the  states  service,  artists,  scholars,  be- 
ginning to  show  the  brilliant,  inherited  qualities  of  their  race,  some 
faint  glamor  of  the  "kingdom  of  priests"  and  the  chosen  people. 
They  have  at  least  in  some  respects,  outdone  their  fathers,  in  ex- 
terior manners,  forms  and  decent,  personal  appearance.  They 
are  gradually  throwing  off  their  shy  looks,  timidity,  bent  posture, 
with  the  old-time  jargon,  their  Ghetto  mannerisms,  the  old-time 
neglect  of  person  and  speech  and  habits,  the  sad  consequences  of 
the  Russian  regime,  of  the  late,  crushing  half-century.  They 
are  getting  less  bigoted  and  superstitious  in  their  views,  less  of 
sticklers,  less  intolerant  and  chauvinistic,  a  few  even  are  broad- 
minded  and  educated.  They  begin  to  learn  civic  virtues,  to 
respect  and  cherish  their  American  fellow  citizens,  keep  up 
their  noble,  inherited,  old-time  charities. 

Greater  still  is  the  progress  of  the  Germanic  Jews.  They  have 
already  founded  some  of  the  most  magnificent  institutions  for 

1  Written  on  the  Atonement  eve,  as  a  reminiscence  of  prophetic 
addresses. 


AMERICAN   ISRAEL.  8r 

education,  for  the  sick,  the  poor,  the  aged,  the  neglected,  the  or- 
phans and  all  the  striving  ones  of  the  newly  arrived  co-religionists. 
Some  of  their  rich  have  contributed  princely,  shedding  honor  upon 
the  race  and  the  faith  of  Israel,  and  the  rank  and  file  have  not 
remained  backwards,  did  their  best.  And,  when  we  remember  that 
these  all  belong  to  the  disinherited  and  ostracized  of  Europe,  who 
have  in  one  to  three  or  five  decades  succeeded  so  much,  that  re- 
sult is  highly  cheering ! 

Thus  there  is  a  fine  offset  to  the  above  mentioned  short-comings. 
We  do  not  boast,  but  we  need  not,  either,  be  ashamed  of  American 
Israel,  not  even  of  his  standing  among  the  civilized  American 
races.  He  is  inferior  to  none.  The  fact  is,  there  is  no  cause  for 
despondency  and  giving  up.  Man's  entire  standing  is  just  as  could 
be  expected,  just  as  circumstances  allow.  The  first  generation 
of  Jewish  American  immigrants  had  to  look  after  bread,  bodily 
self-preservation,  economical,  commercial  well-being,  to  cottage^ 
bread  and  raiment.  Competition  is  fearfully  pressing,  especially  up- 
on the  foreigner.  He  must  fight  with  might  and  main  to  ward  off 
from  his  door  the  wolf,  hunger.  Did  not  our  teachers  say: 
"Harder  is  to  make  a  livelihood  than  even  the  passage  over  the 
Red  Sea.". .  ."Turn  thy  Sabbath  into  a  weekday,  but  apply  not  for 
assistance."!  Our  immigrants  acted  upon  that.  Our  sages  often 
pointedly  interpreted  in  that  sense  the  ingenious  verse :  "There  is 
a  time  (temporarily)  to  set  aside  God's  Law  (Berakhoth  54  a)^ 
The  immigrant  acted  upon  that ;  for  a  time  he  set  aside  the  Law^ 
the  ritual  and  the  ceremonies,  to  gain  a  foothold,  a  livelihood  in 
this  bitter  struggle  for  existence.  He  acted  as  if  he  had  forgotten 
them.  Still  really  he  ever  managed  to  remain  a  Jew,  even  ta 
keep  up  always  the  appearance  of  a  gentleman,  to  remain  within 
the  bounds  of  morality  and  to  prepare  for  the  vindication  of  his 
full  historical  part  as  a  member  of  "the  people  of  priests  and  holy 
nation."  A  generation  has  now  been  spent  in  these  efforts.  It  is 
now  high  time  to  resume  the  work  of  rehabilitation  and  recon- 
struction, to  constitute  the  million  and  three-fourths  of  American 
Jews  as  a  notable,  significant,  cultured  and  religious  community 
within  this  great  American  comonwealth. 

It  is  high  time  to  begin  the  work  of  reconstruction  of  Ameri- 
can Israel.     We  cannot  any  longer  defer  and  wait.     Hence  our 

nv-\2b  Tinvn  ^xi  ^in  ^nnK>  n^^y  ;fiiD-D'  nynpa  hdj-iq  nt^p  i 
n15^'y^  ny  dik'D  —  "nmin  ncn  i"b  n)^vh  ny  » 

Often  quoted  by  the  Talmud. 


82  EXODUS,    MOSES    AND    THE    DECALOGUE. 

WOMAN  TO  ASSIST, 
frankness.  I  hope  not  to  be  misunderstood  in  giving  the  picture 
of  the  state  of  things.  It  is  in  order  to  show  and  convince  that 
we  must  no  longer  hesitate,  but  begin  to  bring  order  and  hght 
into  our  ethical,  reHgious  and  educational  chaos.  We  were  not 
sparing  the  colors,  but  we  had  to  appeal  to  the  Brethren.  We  had 
to  clearly  point  out,  fraternally,  but  frankly,  the  extent  of  the  dis- 
temper, in  order  to  energize  and  induce  them  to  apply  the  urgent 
remedy.  To  cure  a  disorder,  the  physician  must  honestly  com- 
mence with  making  his  diagnosis.  He  cannot  afford  to  flatter 
and  spare  the  feelings  of  the  patient  at  the  cost  of  his  life.  He 
must  state  correctly  and  distinctly  what  is  the  ailment,  and  that 
is  the  intent  of  the  aforegoing  delineation.  Such  a  diagnosis  is  the 
preliminary  to  safe  curing  and  an  honest  statement  is  the  first  and 
indispensable  requirement  to  search  for  and  find  out  the  remedy. 
That  remedy  is  at  hand,  if  there  is  the  will.  American  Jews,  be 
not  deceived  by  your  commercial  competency,  your  rights  and 
your  freedom.  You  need  organization,  renovation,  eliminating 
the  Ghetto  to  the  last  trace,  and  constituting  occidental  Judaism 
on  a  solid  basis. 

A  Medrashic  legend  narrates,  when  Moses  desired  to  know  the 
place,  exactly,  where  Joseph's  remains  had  been  deposited,  then 
there  was  but  one  person  of  that  age  alive  to  inform  him  thereof. 
It  was  a  woman:  Serach,  daughter  of  Asher,  the  "wandering 
Jewess"  of  those  times.  She  had  lived  on  till  the  promise  given 
to  Joseph  was  redeemed,  and  it  was  she  who  showed  to  Moses  the 
place  where  Joseph's  metallic  sarcophagus  had  been  lowered  down 
into  the  waves  of  the  deep  bed  of  the  Nile,  the  rushing  waters 
over  his  head  lulling  him  to  sleep.  Then  Moses,  standing  on  the 
shore  of  the  river,  called  out :  "Joseph !  Joseph !  the  time  of  the 
redemption  of  Israel  has  arrived. ^  Come,  arise,  ascend  from  the 
deep!"  And  the  cold  ashes  began  to  glimmer,  move  and  stir 
at  this  vivifying  call  of  Moses,  of  liberty  and  posterity.  The 
sarcophagus,  attracted  by  the  magnetic  power  of  sympathy,  coun- 
try and  kindred  began  to  budge  and  move  and  rise,  and  heavily 
floated  up  to  the  surface  of  the  Nile,  to  join  the  redeemed." 

The  legend  of  Joseph's  ashes  revivified  by  the  sympathy  of 
race,  at  the  instance  of  a  kindred  patriot,  has  its  significance. 
Israel  has  yet  two  anchors  of  salvation  deeply  moored  in  the 

1  Yalkut  ad  locum. 


WOMAN   TO   ASSIST.  83 

ground  of  history,  defying  all  the  rage  of  indifference,  distances 
and  times.  These  anchors  of  American  Judaism  are:  Firstly, 
The  magnetic  force  of  adherence  of  the  scattered  members  to  the 
race ;  Secondly,  The  persevering,  instinctive  fidelity  of  the  Hebrew 
woman,  that  irresistible  power,  that  attraction  which  for  thousands 
of  years  has  held  together  our  broken  ranks,  making  them  feel  as 
limbs  of  one  body,  in  spite  of  their  many  countries  and  idioms, 
their  ritualistic  misunderstandings,  their  untold  misfortunes  and 
unparalleled  dispersion.  That  power  of  adherence  may  yet  hold 
good,  keep  together  and  re-invigorate  the  relaxed  ties  and  bonds 
of  American  and  of  universal  Israel.  Next,  that  magnetic  force  of 
national  adhesion  may  be  re-enlivened,  those  sacred  ties  of  family, 
blood,  history,  achievements,  faith  and  reminiscences  may  once 
more  be  resumed  and  indissolubly  knit  together  by  the  pure  and 
faithful  hands  of  the  Jewish  woman,  the  Serach,  daughter  of 
Asher,  of  our  days. 

The  power  of  womanhood  is  comparatively  a  new  social  factor, 
well  known  and  utilized  in  America.  Asia  knew  it  not,  yea,  denied 
it.  The  Bible  made  a  great  effort  to  uplift  the  sex,  but  the  Asiactic 
society,  resting  upon  brute  force,  kept  it  down.  The  Essenian- 
Christian  revolution  developed  the  Biblical  woman's  rights.  It  is 
American  society  that  practically  and  finaly  uplifted  woman  to  the 
position  of  full  humanhood.  In  America  she  is  attaining,  slowly, 
her  natural  station  as  a  free-born,  rational,  moral  and  responsible 
human  agent.  Let  Israel  take  hold  and  utilize  that  new  social 
power,  the  next  after  that  of  race  adherence. 

When  both  these  factors,  the  racial  Hebraic  cohesion  and 
the  Hebrew  woman  prove  true,  then  a  new  Moses  would 
come  and  sound  the  trumpet  of  spiritual  regeneration  and  of 
renewed  national  life;  when  the  new  circumstances  will  call  for 
a  new  Moses,  he  will  appear.  Then  will  dawn  the  morn  of  a  fresh, 
bright,  sunny  day  of  regeneration  for  our  beloved  brethren  of 
universal  and  of  American  Israel.  Then  will  the  epoch  of  re- 
demption arrive,  the  Exodus  from  our  modern  Egypt,  viz :  the 
intellectual  apathy,  moral  torpor  and  racial  disintegration,  with 
the  all-absorbing,  one-sided  materialsm,  and  render  Israel  to  his 
calling,  as  the  historical  people  of  culture,  ethics  and  religion; 
the  people  of  work  and  of  knowledge,  the  vanguard  of  humanity, 
the  providential  agent  of  spiritualizing  and  sanctifying  mankind. 


84  EXODUS,    MOSES    AND    THE    DECALOGUE. 

As  to  the  inherent,  psychic  power  of  adherence  and  mental  at- 
traction of  the  members  of  Juda,  it  undoubtedly  exists.  But  if  it 
exists  as  yet  to  such  an  extent  as  to  become  a  pivot  for  action, 
a  base  of  new  possibilities  and  national  combinations,  that  cannot 
be  categorically  affirmed.  It  must  be  watched  and  carefully  stimu- 
lated. As  to  our  second  factor,  the  American  Jewish  women,  to 
you  the  Jewish  patriot  must  look  up  for  assistance  in  these  days 
of  baleful  indifference  and  disintegration.  Sisters,  take  the  initia- 
tive, nurture  and  uphold  the  union  of  Israel,  of  the  race,  of  the 
salient  doctrines,  the  noble  principles  and  the  practical  humane  life 
taught  by  Judaism.  To  you  we  look  up  in  this  grave  moment  of 
hesitation.  With  your  Jewish,  warm  and  pure  hearts,  and  with 
your  busy,  clean  hands  you  shall  keep  up  the  sacred  fire  of  relig- 
ion, education  and  refinement ;  you  shall  nurture  that  bright  flame 
of  genuine  Judaism  in  the  breast  of  your  husbands,  brothers  and 
children.  You  must  entertain  the  sterling  qualities  of  your  race, 
fidelity  to  the  living  and  to  the  dead,  to  the  past  and  to  the  future, 
to  wise  conservatism  and  improving  advance,  to  the  millenial  doc- 
trines and  aspirations  of  your  people.  You  will  thus  prepare  the 
advent  of  the  new  Moses,  who  would  surely  come,  without  fail, 
when  you  and  Jewish  adherence  prove  true.  Such  a  Moses 
will  appear  and  redeem  us  from  our  one-sided  life  of  money- 
making  at  any  price,  from  our  disgraceful  indiflferentism  and  our 
abject  materialism,  and  make  us  again,  as  once,  "the  kingdom  of 
priests  and  holy  nation,"  the  people  of  ethics,  of  knowledge,  of 
thinking  and  working;  the  vanguard  of  mankind,  the  locomotive 
of  civilization. 

As  such  the  liberal,  original  settlers  here,  the  English  and  Scot- 
tish dissenters,  the  French  Huguenots,  the  German  farmers  and  the 
Irish  laborers,  etc.,  have  received  us  on  these  hospitable,  free 
shores  of  Columbus'  land.  They  have  received  us  with  such  favor- 
able preconceptions  and  presumptions,  viz. :  as  the  genuine  Israel 
of  the  Bible,  of  the  Decalogue,  of  "Love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself," 
of  peace  and  good  will  to  all,  as  the  "kingdom  of  priests,"  devoted 
to  the  higher  pursuits  of  humanity.  It  is  our  duty  and  our  in- 
terest, yea,  prudence  dictates  not  to  disappoint  them,  but  to  show 
them  that  Israel's  object  and  mission  is  still,  as  of  yore,  to  render 
mankind  better  and  wiser.  When  our  ancestors  emigrated  to  the 
Roman  world,  to  the  west  of  Europe  and  to  the  east  and  south  of 

Maurice  Fluegel's  Exodus,  Moses  and  the  Decalogue. 


WOAIAN   TO   ASSIST.  85 

Europe,  they  came  there  accompanied,  as  Moses  at  the  Exodus, 
by  those  two  arks,  with  the  ashes  of  the  fathers,  and  the  Hve 
doctrines  of  the  prophets,  and  they  arrived  into  their  new  homes 
with  their  higher  faith  and  a  higher  civilization,  they  arrived 
there  as  teachers,  as  inaugurators  of  a  higher  culture.  1  So  the 
Jews  accompanying  the  Arabs  to  North-Africa,  to  the  Spanish 
peninsula,  and  later  when  passing  over  to  France,  to  Germany,  to 
Poland,  everywhere  brought  over  and  imparted  to  those 
semi-cultured  countries  a  higher  civilization.  They  created  schools 
for  popular  education,  for  the  sciences,  arts,  industries ;  translated 
for  them  the  masters  of  antiquity  and  connected  them  with 
the  great  ancient  nations.  Thus  they  brought  to  their  western 
fellow  citizens  a  higher  civilization  and  more  refined  ethics. 
We  are  to  do  the  same  in  our  new  America.  We  must  reconquer 
our  tzvo  arks,  neglected  during  this  last  emigration.  We  must 
continue  to  be  here  the  people  of  culture,  to  foster  here  higher 
education  and  ethics,  conscience,  honor  and  enlightened  God-be- 
lief. We  must  not  always  imitate  and  admire,  but,  where  necessary, 
criticise,  create,  improve  and  bring  out  higher  patterns  of  citizen- 
ship, scholarship,  etc.,  relying  upon  the  good  American  common 
sense  of  the  people  which  will  be  grateful — and  not  be  afraid  of 
the  jealousy  of  crafty  politicians.^  Then  the  American  people  will 
not  mistake  us  for  mere  dealers,  for  obscure,  selfish,  bigoted  sec- 
tarians. No,  they  will  recognize  in  us  the  true  and  genuine  de- 
scendants of  the  prophetic  polity,  that  our  task  and  mission  is  to 
render  the  United  States  people :  "a  people  of  priests  and  holy  na- 
tion," and  gradually,  by  education,  freedom  and  economic  im- 
provements, create  for  mankind  a  United  States  of  the  world. 


iln  my  personal  hearing,  Professor  Roscher  admitted  this,  in  a  lec- 
ture at  the  Leipzig  University,  in  the  winter  of  1885-6. 

2Such  a  scholarly  politician  recently  said  to  a  foreign-born  natural- 
ized scholar:  "Forty  years  ago  we  used  to  give  office  to  foreigners, 
now  we  do  not.  My  pupil  will  be  my  successor."  Yes,  but  whether  the 
coming  generation  will  be  the  gainers,  that  is  doubtful. 


86  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

Study  III.    EXODUS. 
THE  DECALOGUE,  INTRODUCTION. 

Theme :   "A  kingdom  of  priests  and  a  holy  nation." 

We  read  in  Exodus  xix :  2-9 :  "In  the  third  month  after  the 
IsraeHtes  had  left  Egypt,  they  arrived  into  the  wilderness  of  Sinai 
. .  .and  rested  opposite  to  the  mount  (Horeb).  And  Ihvh  called 
out  to  Moses :  Thus  shalt  thou  speak  to  the  house  of  Jacob  and 
tell  the  house  of  Israel,  Ye  have  seen  w^hat  I  have  done  unto 
Egypt  and  how  I  bore  you,up,  as  on  eagle's  wings,  even  to  Me, 
Now,  if  you  will  listen  unto  My  voice  and  observe  My  covenant, 
ye  shall  be  a  precious  property  unto  Me,  selected  from  among  all 
the  nations,  for  Mine  is  the  entire  earth — Ye  shall  be  unto  Me  a 
kingdom  of  priests  and  a  holy  nation.  "And  all  the  people  answer- 
ed, saying:    Whatever  the  Lord  has  spoken,  we  shall  do." 

Justly  the  sages  remark  here:^  This  was  addressed  to  the 
women  and  to  the  men,  to  all,  to  priest  and  to  laymen,  to  the 
young  and  to  the  old.  Not  as  with  other  nations,  there  is  one 
religion  for  the  learned,  the  initiated,  and  another  for  the  uniniti- 
ated, the  common  people.  No,  Israel's  doctrines  are  universal. 
They  know  no  particularism ;  and  even  so  was  the  reply  universal, 
all  accepted  the  mission. 

Weighty  and  pregnant  is  this  introduction  to  the  Decalogue :  "Ye 
have  seen  how  I  have  dealt  with  Egypt — the  pattern  of  ancient 
polytheism.  Now,  if  you  will  inaugurate  and  adhere  to  my  cove- 
nant, the  civilization  of  monotheism,  ye  shall  be  my  specially 
elected  and  consecrated  people,  among  all  the  other  nations,  for 
all  of  them  are  mine.  Ye  shall  be  my  kingdom  of  priests  among 
the  nations  of  the  earth."  Thus  Israel  is  not  a  contradiction,  not 
an  opposition  to,  not  antagonizing  the  other  nations.  No !  He  is 
their  complement,  leading  on  to  higher  phases  and  developments, 
in  church,  state  and  society,  in  faith,  knowledge  and  humane  life. 
Thus  here,  at  the  very  start,  Mosaism  constitutes  Israel  as  the 
priestly  leader,  in  full  harmony  and  in  perfect  fraternity  with  his 
sister  races  of  the  human  kind  ;  and  that  is  of  extreme  importance. 
However  much  the  Mosaic  lawgiver  abominated  the  idolatrous 
ways  of  the  antique  peoples,  he  never  confounded  the  latter  ones 
with  their  idolatry,  he  ever  conceived  them  as  forming  but  one 

Yalkut  ad  locum     D'lajn  n^N  —  D"'C'2n  n?X   1 


THE    DECALOGUE    INTRODUCTION.  87 

with  mankind,  as  part  of  the  one  human  race,  as  kindred  and 
brothers,  as  of  the  same  parental  stock,  made  by  the  same  divine 
Creator,  of  the  same  social  nature  and  the  same  ethical  interests. 
He  taught  his  own  people  another  theology,  other  cosmic  views, 
nobler  morals  and  manners,  but  ever  compatible  with  the  other 
peoples,  framed  so  as  to  gradually  become  the  doctrine  of  all  of 
them.i  He  never  entertained  race  prejudice  nor  any  native,  local 
bias.  "Mine  is  all  the  earth;  Mine  are  all  the  nations."  No  pro- 
vincial god  and  no  racial  god ;  the  Deity  is  universal  and  humanity- 
is  universal !  How  sublime !  How  far  above  the  horizon  of 
heathen  lawgivers !  Whether  the  Decalogue  be  the  germ  and 
nucleus,  or  whether  it  be  the  epitome  of  the  principles  of  the 
Mosaic  Legislation,  be  it  that  the  Sinaic  Ten  Words  are  the 
revelation  of  three  thousand  five  hundred  years  ago,  or  as  "higher 
criticism"  gratuitously  assumes,  of  but  two  thousand  five  hundred 
years  ago,  at  any  rate  it  is  here  offered  us  with  all  the  solemnity 
of  an  Organic  Law,  as  the  Charter-Magna,  the  Great  Charter 
of  Israel's  nationality,  as  his  religious,  moral,  legal  and  social 
Constitution,  as  a  summary  and  base  of  his  entire  legislation. 
Now  here,  at  this  solemn  turn-point,  it  lays  down  as  its  corner- 
stone, the  universal  God-humanity-and-right-idea :  Israel  is  one 
of  the  nations,  but  chosen  and  specially  selected  to  uphold  a  new 
civilization,  gradually  to  be  introduced  among  all  the  races,  with 
an  outline  of  laws  fit  to  become  the  rule  of  all  the  peoples  and 
countries ;  nothing  is  timely,  local,  or  national.  Here  is  a  unique 
and  sublime  universalism,  towering  above  all  antiquity. 

A  KINGDOM  OF  PRIESTS. 

Here  is  the  gist  and  scope,  the  pith  and  marrow,  the  precious 
outcome  of  the  preparatory  eft'orts  of  the  patriarchs  and  of  the 
Exodus.  What  was  the  result  of  the  lives  of  Abraham,  Isaac 
and  Jacob?  What  was  the  object  of  the  Exodus?  To  create  and 
establish  the  model  ethical  ethnos,  "a  kingdom  of  priests  and  holy, 
spiritual  nation."  The  labors  of  the  three  Sires  and  those  of 
Moses  and  Aaron  were  but  the  preliminary,  the  necessary  steps 
towards  calling  forth  a  people  devoted  to  the  mental,  moral  and 
spiritual  interests  of  mankind.    The  entire  civilization,  Egyptian, 


iLong  before  Kant,  lie  set  up  the  rule  of  conduct  as  the  fittest  to 
become  universal. 


88  EXODUS,    MOSES    AND    THE    DECALOGUE. 

Babylonian  or  Phoenician,  previous  to  that  aera,  was  one-sided,  a 
national  one.  With  the  Exodus  and  Sinai  spiritual  interests  en- 
tered largely  into  the  combinations  of  the  lawgivers  and  initiators 
of  society,  state  and  church. 

We  have  above  examined  what  mankind  has  profited  since  the 
Exodus.  The  preliminary  steps  to  that  was  the  creation  of  a 
providential  live  instrument  fit  to  bring  about  those  achievemerits. 
This  is  "the  people  of  priests  and  holy-spirit  nation,"  a  nation 
wholly  devoted  to  mental  and  ethical  concerns.  The  previous 
civilization  had  little  of  such  features.  Consider  it  carefully,  it  was 
noisy  and  brilliant,  but  not  much  moral  and  mental;  it  was  lus- 
trous, not  warm  and  cheering.  It  was  cold  and  dreary,  a  narrow 
egoism  was  its  root,  and  despotism,  priestly  and  princely,  its 
chief  resources  for  shaping  and  molding  the  savages  into  cul- 
tured communities.^  With  the  Exodus  new  features  came  into 
play,  that  which  became  the  spiritual  leaven  of  the  human  species. 
Consider:  Comfortable  clothes,  an  elegant  home,  an  orderly 
State,  are  invariably  parts  of  civilization,  but  not  yet  the  highest 
civilization.  The  material  elements  of  human  existence,  of  civil 
life,  though  by  no  means  unworthy  of  our  consideration,  are  not 
yet  the  objects  of  human  life  itself,  not  yet  its  highest  aim. 
Bread  feeds  and  sustains  the  body,  it  repairs  the  wear  and 
tear  of  our  daily  waste ;  but  it  has  besides  a  higher 
import,  it  restores  the  integrity  of  the  brain,  the  seat  of  the 
intellect.  The  best  part  of  what  we  eat  today  is  soon  converted, 
not  only  into  bone,  fat  and  muscle,  but  also  into  nerve  and  brain, 
into  thought  and  feeling.  Even  so  our  comfortable  house,  means 
materially  a  desirable  place  or  retreat  from  the  inclemency  of  the 
weather,  rain  and  snow,  cold  and  heat,  but  morally  a  home  is  a 
domestic  temple  of  virtue,  refinement  and  happiness.  Marriage 
and  family  mean,  first,  the  restoration  of  the  passing  generation, 
the  conservation  of  the  race,  mutual  helpfulness  in  the  battle  for 
existence;  but  in  a  higher  sense  they  mean  the  harmonious  and 
sympathetic  co-existence,  the  efflorescent  development  of  social, 
moral  and  intellectual  beings,  based  upon  identical  natures,  inter- 
ests, similarity  of  temperament  and  tastes,  a  union  of  hearts  and 
feelings,  where  each  party's  happiness  is  enhanced  by  the  happi- 

iLes  nations  les  pltis  eclairees,  Chaldeens,  Egyptians,  Graeco-Ro- 
maines,  etaient  les  plus  avenglees  sur  la  religion. .  .Bossuet,  Discours 
sur  I'histoire  Universelle  249. 


A    KINGDOM    OF    PRIESTS.  89 

ness  of  the  other ;  such  are  husband  and  wife,  parent  and  children  ; 
their  self-sacrifice,  not  self-interest,  becomes  the  criterion  of  real, 
genuine  sympathy,  the  true  corner-stone  of  the  family  connection. 
Even  so  aims  the  State,  first  and  plainly,  at  securing  the  lives, 
Hmbs  and  property  of  its  inhabitants.  Security  is  the  first  task 
of  the  State,  but  in  a  higher  sense,  it  aims  at  guaranteeing  and 
facilitating  our  legitimate  efforts,  possibilities  and  chances  in  life, 
fair  justice,  education,  a  well-intentioned  society  and  its  amenities, 
bodily  and  ethical  improvements.  It  insures  to  us  all  the  oppor- 
tunities of  becoming  more  refined  and  civilized  beings;  with  as 
much  physical,  intellectual,  moral  happiness  as  man  is  capable  of. 
So  it  is  with  the  objects  of  home,  food  and  State,  and  so  every- 
thing else. 

SINAI'S  CIVILIZATION. 

Thus  we  have  seen  everything  has  a  relative  and  manifold  sig- 
nificance. All  private  comforts  and  supplies  and  all  public  insti- 
tutions have  many  aspects  and  bearings.  They  are  to  answer  to 
the  needs  of  the  body  first,  and  next  to  those  of  the  mind.  Now 
the  entire  ancient  world,  having  hardly  a  word  for  and  an  idea  of 
mind,  in  our  sense,  all  their  civilization,  even  the  most  boasted  one, 
even  that  of  the  famed  Greek  society,  was  mostly  but  material. 
To  secure  as  much  sensual  pleasure  as  possible,  to  avoid  pain  and 
labor,  worry  and  disappointment,  to  protect  life  and  limb,  to 
secure  property  and  ambition,  to  render  existence  agreeable,  that 
was  all  the  object  of  ancient  civilization,  yea,  of  religion  itself. 
Religion  meant  the  performance  of  the  rites  and  ceremonies  by 
which  man  hoped  to  propitiate  the  envy  and  jealousy  of  the  gods, 
so  as  to  let  him  alone  and  not  interfere  with  his  safety,  his  schemes 
and  his  pleasures.  So  man  sacrificed  to  them  his  best,  even  his 
eldest  son,  his  loveliest  daughter,  in  order  to  gain  terrestrial 
favors.  A  distressed  nation  offered  on  the  alter  her  leader,  her 
crown-prince,  or  hero,  that  she  may  gain  victory  or  freedom.  Such 
acted  King  Codrus  of  Athens,  Mesha  of  Moab,  Judge  Jephta,  the 
Greek  Agamemnon.^  Such  was  religion.  Man  bribed  the  gods 
for  their  favors ;  the  bribe  and  the  favors  were  material.  Mind  was 
not  yet  known,  all  was  yet  sensuous,  all  the  cares  and  toils  were 
for  material  goods. 

1  Judges  xi. —  (Homer)  Agamemnon  sacrificed  Iphigenia  to  please  the 
gods  and  obtain  favorable  winds  for  Troy,  conforming  to  the  augury 
of  Kalhas,  the  priest. 


90  EXODUS,    MOSES    AND    THE    DECALOGUE. 

Man,  as  a  spiritual  and  intellectual  being,  was  yet  in  the  back- 
ground. His  aim  was  pleasure  and  power,  not  duty ;  momentary 
needs  and  gratifications,  not  harmonious  development  of  all  his 
innate  faculties.  Such  it  was  in  hoary  antiquity,  before  the  aera  of 
Sinai.  With  this  aera  begins  the  striving  for  a  higher  civilization 
one  with  moral  purposes.  Nor  is  it  even  today  fully  and  substan- 
tantially  victorious  with  the  majority  of  the  people.  When  one 
considers  how  many  hours  are  passed  in  the  arms  of  pleasure  and 
sloth,  in  the  solicitude  for  the  body,  exclusively,  and  in  pernicious 
recreations,  etc.,  one  will  find  out  that  with  many  of  the  upper  and 
the  lower  strata,  scarcely  one  hour  in  a  thousand  is  devoted  to 
higher,  nobler  interests.  So  it  is  to  this  day,  after  more  than 
three  thousand  years  since  the  Sinaic  epoch.  Whilst  before  that 
period,  man  lived  constantly  in  the  material  world.  It  was  the 
time  of  idolatry,  the  worship  of  the  senses,  and  the  total  neglect 
of  the  spiritual  parts  of  human  nature. 

Providence,  therefore,  stepped  in  on  behalf  of  man's  advance. 
God  selected  a  living  instrument  for  his  revelations  and  improve- 
ments. God  sent  Moses,  the  liberator,  with  the  world-redeeming 
message  to  the  descendents  of  the  Patriarchs,  as  the  advance 
guard  of  mankind.  "Ye  shall  be  unto  Me  a  kingdom  of  priests 
and  a  holy  nation."  Ye  Israelites  shall  be  set  apart  from  among 
the  peoples  of  the  earth ;  ye  shall  be  devoted,  body  and  soul,  heart, 
head  and  hand,  to  the  spiritual  domain,  to  man's  unfolding,  morally 
and  intellectually,  to  the  adoration  of  the  One  God,  instead  of 
idolatry ;  to  the  culture  of  virtue  instead  of  pleasure,  of  mind  in- 
stead of  matter,  of  thought  in  place  of  form.  You  shall  study  and 
cultivate  the  duties  of  man  above  his  momentary  interests,  the 
constant  harmonious  development  of  the  human  faculties,,  not  sole- 
ly the  sensuous  gratifications  of  the  moment.  Each  and  every 
one  of  you  shall  be  a  citizen  of  that  "priestly  kingdom,"  that 
"kingdom  of  heaven"  to  bring  upon  the  earth;  that  kingdom  of 
priests,  administering  to  man's  welfare,  not  alone  of  the  privileged 
classes  who  increase  his  woes,  not  of  men  who  lay  claim  to  tithes 
and  temporal  dominion,  who  feed  on  the  good  things  of  the 
world  and  offer  mythology  to  their  neighbors ;  who  claim  the  right 
to  loosen  and  to  bind,  to  domineer,  enjoy  and  enslave,  and  block 
all  popular  improvements.  No ;  but  a  priestly  people  whose  mem- 
bers, all,  are  educated,  know  their  duty,  do  it,  teach  it,  who  learn, 
think  and  work,  each  for  himself  and  his  fellowmen. 


PRE-SINAIC   CIVILIZATION.  91 

Egypt,  Assyria,  Babylonia,  Tyre  had  a  State,  ^colonies,  nations, 
armies,  conquests,  laws,  arts,  commerce,  dynasts  and  warriors, 
clans,  races  and  priestly  castes.  They  had  also  institutions  aiming 
at  religion,  worship,  our  "Church."  But  the  Church  was  but  the 
handmaid  of  and  subservient  to  the  prince,  and  the  priest  was  his 
clerk,  his  tool.  With  Pythagoras,  Socrates,  Aristotle  and  Plato, 
a  glimpse  of  mind  came  into  the  consciousness  of  the  philosophers. 
Yet  that  was  out  of  reach  of  the  positive  Lawgiver,  legislating  for 
the  masses,  for  the  people  knew  nothing  of  it.  The  form,  the 
external  outline,  or  the  beauty  of  the  body  was  the  nearest  popu- 
lar approach  to  the  conception  of  spirit,  soul,  or  mind.  Mind 
as  essentially  different  from  body  is  a  Mosaic  idea.  Already  in 
the  Creation  story  we  find  it  distinctly  emphasized  (Gen.  I  and 
III):  "Elohim  formed  man  in  his  own  image... He  breathed 
into  his  nostrils  a  breath  of  life."  So  ten  centuries  before  Plato, 
with  Mosaism,  mind  dawned  upon  the  world.  Then  began  a  new 
onward  movement.  The  material  interests  began  to  subordinate 
them.selves  under  the  mental,  moral  and  spiritual  ones.  Moses 
created  a  people  to  be  its  own  priest,  with  no  divine,  sacredotal 
caste.  A  small  class,  without  lands,  with  a  precarious  subsistence, 
was  appointed  to  attend  on  worship,  (More  anciently  such  may 
have  been  the  noble-born  or  the  first-born  sons).^  Moses  insti- 
tuted the  Levites ;  whilst  the  entire  people  he  set  apart,  among  all 
the  nations  then  existing,  to  cultivate  and  to  stimulate  the  ethical 
interests  of  the  human  race.  A  further  subdivision  of  functions 
took  place  and  there  was  substituted  the  tribe  of  the  Levites  and 
the  Ahronides,  because  the  people  had  to  look  after  their  bodily  and 
political  interests.  So,  were  the  Ahronides  especially  entrusted 
v\'ith  the  Temple  service.  Nevertheless  the  salient  Mosaic  scope 
was,  and  remained,  that  the  entire  people  is  the  people  of  God, 
of  spirituality,  the  ethical  nation,  the  priesthood  of  mankind,  with 
a  cosmopolitan,  humanitarian  tendency  expressed  in  its  Messiah 
ideal.  Indeed  the  Jewish  messianic  Idea  ever  was  cosmopolitan 
and  humanitarian.  That  was  to  be  a  great  and  holy  man  who 
would  gather  all  the  tribes  of  Israel  and  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth,  lead  them  to  Zion  as  the  world's  spiritual  capital,  under  the 


1  (II  M.,  xxiv.,  11)    The  select  ones. — Maimonldes  Guide 

I,  15,  throws  out  a  hint  that  these  may  have  had  yet  crude  materialistic 
notions  about  Deity.  Later  the  tribe  of  Levi  and  especially  the  Ahron- 
ides took  their  place  who  assisted  in  elaborating  a  nobler  and  more 
correct  God-idea. 


92  EXODUS,    MOSES    AND    THE    DECALOGUE. 

aegis  of  the  One  God  of  the  universe,  lead  them  all  to  the  Mount 
of  God,  do  away  with  strife,  tears  and  war,  make  justice  and 
knowledge  arbitrate  among  men  and  exchange  the  sword  for  the 
plough  and  the  tool  (Is.  II  and  XI;  Micha  IV).  What  a  grand, 
noble,  wakeful  prophet's  dream  !  Three  thousand  years  have  passed 
over  this  vision,  and  now  philanthropists  and  true  statesmen  begin 
to  realize  that  dream  as  the  Hague  Court  of  Peace  and  Arbitra- 
tion. 

In  as  much  and  so  far  as  a  special  country  and  people,  Israel 
had  his  extra  priestly  tribe.  But  in  so  far  as  a  people  among  the 
peoples,  as  a  fraction  of  humanity,  scattered,  among  all  the  races 
and  lands,  Israel  was  to  be  the  kingdom  of  priests  and  holy  na- 
tion, chosen  for  that  purpose  among  the  sister-nations,  "the  world 
belonging  to  God"  and  all  mankind  being  God's  worshippers. 
This  idea,  Israel's  priesthood,  revealed  to  Moses  at  Horeb,  was 
both,  the  final  end  of,  and  the  prelude  to,  the  Ten  Commandments. 
It  could  not  at  once  be  carried  out.  Hence  the  creation  of  the 
tribe  of  the  Levites  and  Ahronides  (Kohanin).  The  priest-people 
had  to  be  educated,  first,  to  that  role.  It  took  a  thousand  years; 
Ezra  made  earnest  with  it.  Two  centuries  later,  the  idea  clearly 
and  saliently  stood  before  the  minds  of  the  rabbis ;  Israel  is  the 
priesthood,  not  alone  the  Ahronides,  and  mankind  is  to  be  edu- 
cated as  the  congregation  of  the  one  universal  God .  .  .  With  the 
destruction  of  the  II.  Temple,  the  sacrificial  service  was  dropped 
out  of  sight.  Prayer,  charity,  and  even  more  so,  study  and  in- 
struction became  the  great  task  of  the  Jew,  as  the  priestly  teacher 
and  holy  Ethnos  of  mankind.  And  this  very  part  of  the  priest  of 
mankind,  Israel  has  been  performing  since  Horeb .  . .  Hence  comes 
his  exceptional  position  among  the  nations,  literally  realizing: 
"When  you  will  listen  unto  My  voice  and  keep  My  covenant,  you 
shall  be  unto  Me  a  precious  property,  among  the  nations.  Mine 
being  all  the  earth."  He  is  to  form  the  vanguard  of  the  human 
race,  the  stimulus  to  mentality  and  purity.  This  is  the  extraordi- 
nary, providential  part  and  position  of  Israel  in  history. 

WHEREFORE  ISRAEL?    PRE-  AND  POST-SINAI. 

Thus  when  people  ask :  Why  is  he  so  long  a  minority  ?  Subject 
to  so  many  tribulations  and  misconstructions  ?  Is  he  better,  supe- 
rior to  others  ?  of  blue  blood  ?  Had  not  Egypt,  India,  China  an 
older  civilization?    The  answer  is:   Yes,  they  had  a  civilization. 


WHEREFORE  ISRAEL?      PRE-  AND   POST-SINAI. 


93 


but  not  a  high  one ;  they  had  not  "a  kingdom  of  priests  and  holy 
nation."  They  had  a  nation,  a  country,  kings,  priests,  warriors, 
craftsmen,  a  state,  famihes ;  but  their  nation  was  a  forced  con- 
glomeration of  subjugated  tribes;  their  country,  conquered  vil- 
lages and  provinces ;  their  king,  a  despot  owning  all,  their  priests 
were  his  tools  and  clerks ;  their  warriors,  his  hirelings  and  condot- 
tcri;  the  State  was  the  property  of  king  and  warriors ;  the  family 
was  owned  by  the  master,  and  the  mass  of  the  people  was  a  herd 
of  slaves,  to  furnish  taxes  and  soldiers  for  the  wars  and  whims  of 
the  king  and  his  grandees.  As  to  their  religion,  it  was  mostly  the 
cunning  contrivance  of  hypocrisy,  to  give  a  legal  handle  to 
tyranny,  and  their  civilization  was  an  artificial  scheme  for  cover- 
ing up  the  wretchedness  of  the  majority,  by  the  splendors  of  the 
minority  and  the  exorbitant  luxuriousness  of  the  court,  all  owned 
by  the  divinized  despot. 

Our  present  chapter,  with  the  creation  of  a  spiritual  ele- 
ment, a  "holy  nation,"  inaugurates  a  State  with  freedom,  right 
and  justice,  a  people  of  freeborn  ones,  spontaneously  asso- 
ciated, all  aspiring  at  mental  and  moral  culture ;  no  kings  but 
God  and  Law ;  no  war,  but  for  defense ;  with  workers  free  and 
moral,  with  families  by  marriage,  without  enslaved  women 
and  unfree  children,  with  mutual  sympathies  and  duties ;  the 
social  basis  was  the  worship  of  the  One  God  of  the  universe; 
the  Church  represented  right,  v/isdom,  education  and  purity; 
the  friend  of  the  people,  not  the  handle  of  the  king;  with 
priests  as  ministers  and  teachers  of  the  community,  not  feed- 
ing it  with  mythology  and  ignorance,  not  claiming  infalli- 
bility, tithes  and  the  land,  over  and  above ;  the  king  and  the 
priests  not  masters,  but  magistrates ;  the  people,  the  family 
and  the  young  generation,  as  the  objects  of  the  State,  the 
Sanctifying  God-belief  as  the  top  of  the  social  pyramid,  the 
State  and  the  people  represented  the  Temple  with  its  worshippers 
of  the  universal  God. 

This  is  the  Mosaic  scheme.  This  is  the  difference  of  the 
civilizations  of  the  pre-Sinaic  and  the  post-Sinaic  period ;  of  that 
of  Assyria,  Phoenicia  or  Egypt,  and  that  of  Judaea.  The  pre- 
Sinaic  one  was  based  on  country,  force  and  nationalism,  vio- 
lence and  cunning,  for  the  advantage  of  the  few;  without 
spirit  and  soul  or  any  nobler  scope  but  selfishness  and  pleas- 


94  EXODUS,    MOSES    AND    THE    DECALOGUE. 

ure.     Even  so  was  their  religion :     Gods,  priests  and  leaders 
aimed  but  at  power  and  sensuality.^ 

Such  were  their  gods,  Zeus,  Belus,  Merodach,  Assur.  The 
Biblical  scheme,  "A  kingdom  of  priests  and  holy  nation,"  in- 
troduces new  factors  into  human  society;  freedom,  reason,, 
right,  holiness.  God  as  pure  spirituality,  the  Ten  Words  as 
man's  organic  Law;  the  Sabbath  as  the  vehicle  of  rest,  freedom 
and  culture ;  the  parental  and  filial  relations  sanctified ;  virtue, 
justice,  duty,  truth  to  rule,  not  over-reaching  and  force ;  mar- 
riage and  purity  Avith  social  solidarity,  not  exploitation.  In 
Egypt  the  priest  alone  was  educated,  while  the  Hebraic  priest, 
Kohen,  was  to  improve  and  teach  all  men  and  women.  Ruling 
was  not  king,  or  class,  or  priestly  caste,  over  pariah  people, 
but  a  democracy,  with  God  and  law  supreme.  This  is  pro- 
pounded in  the  present  scheme  of  the  period  of  Horeb  and 
the  kingdom  of  priests.  If  they  ask:  Wherefore  Israel?  The 
answer  is :  He  stands  for  the  moral  element,  he  is  to  intro- 
duce those  new  ideas  into  the  polity  of  the  State  and  Church. 
Why  is  he  ever  a  minority?  Because  only  the  best  compre- 
hend the  import  of  his  mission.  Because  humian  progress 
is  exceedingly  slow,  the  masses  are  moving  but  hesitatingly. 

THE  CORONATION  FORMULA. 

"Ye  shall  be  unto  me  a  kingdom  of  priests"  is  the  corona- 
tion formula  conferring  the  crown  of  thorns  and  the  pallium 
of  nobility.  It  is  the  solemn  investiture  of  the  Sinaic  people 
with  "the  insignia  of  the  holy  spirit,"  ever  wafting  from  hoary 
Horeb.  All  that  proud  program,  all  those  improvements  we 
have  above  enumerated,  as  developments  from  Sinai,  are  sum- 
marized and  resumed  in  the  creation  of  the  "priestly  people 
and  holy  nation." 

"Ye  shall  be  unto  Me  a  kingdom  of  priests  and  a  holy  peo- 
ple," is  not  simply  an  ideal,  the  motto  of  Israel's  installation 
in  his  historical  office;  No!  It  also  implies  the  severe  duties 
imposed  upon  him,  for:  Nobility  obliges.  The  eldest  son  of 
civilization,  knighted  now  3,500  years  ago,  bearing  the  rugged 
Messiah  mantel  and  the  crown  of  thorns,  that  imposes  great 

1  Homer  Odysseius.  1,25:  Antioon  tauron  te  kai  arneion  ekatombas. 
I,  60;  Ou  ny  t'  Odysseus  Argeion  para  neyssi  charizeto  iera  regon. 
I,  66:    Peri  d'  ira  theoisin  athanatoisin  edoke... 


THE    CORONATION    FORMULA.  95, 

and  heavy  responsibilities.  The  history  of  these  thirty-five  cen- 
turies and  especially  of  the  last  fifteen  centuries,  has  suffi- 
ciently proven  what  cruel  sacrifices  that  people  had  to  bring 
for  its  mission.  A  few  drops  of  water  in  the  Occident,  the 
donning  of  the  turban  in  the  Orient,  a  few  grains  of  barley 
strewn  before  a  marble  statue  in  ancient  times,  would  have 
relieved  the  Jew  of  all  such  hard  burdens.  But  he  remembered 
that  at  Horeb  his  ancestors  had  shouted :  "Whatever  the 
Eternal  has  bidden,  we  shall  perform,"  and  he  did  perform  it. 

Thus  when  the  people  wonder:  Why  continue  a  minority? 
Why  extra  Sabbaths  and  holidays?  Wherefore  a  special  race 
and  church?  Why  continue  a  small  minority  with  such  cruel 
sacrifices?  Why  circumcision,  racial  marriage  and  an  oriental 
tongue  Why  that  austere  Jewish  life  and  practice,  dietary 
and  hygienic  purity  and  extra  sexual  discipline?  Why  must 
the  Jewish  youth  be  more  frugal,  reserved,  studious,  reverential, 
industrious?  Why  the  Jewish  maiden  more  womanly,  domestic, 
pious,  refined,  industrious  and  retired?  The  ansv/er  is :  Because  ye 
are  Jews,  because  ye  have  been  consecrated  as  "a  kingdom 
of  priests  and  a  holy  nation,"  because  nobility  obliges,  because 
a  minority,  as  a  model  people,  must  uphold  higher  ideals  of 
human  goodness,  mentality,  purity,  wisdom.  But  is  that  not 
a  crown  of  thorns?  Shall  we  yield  and  throw  ofif  that  cum- 
bersome Messiah  mantel?  Is  that  not  martyrdom  for  vanity's 
sake,  Groessenwahn,  imaginary  self-apotheosis?  Why  not  give 
way  and  go  with  the  majority?  The  answer  is:  If  you  have 
accepted  the  premises,  you  must  abide  by  the  conclusion.  If 
you  have  assumed  the  advantages,  you  must  consent  to  the 
burdens.  With  your  patriarchal  blood  you  have  assumed  the 
first,  with  Mosaism,  the  latter  ones.  If  the  civilization  of 
Egypt,  Greece,  Assyria  was  by  far  not  the  highest,  if  our  present 
one,  built  upon  Sinarc  models,  with  chastity,  education,  spir- 
ituality and  freedom  for  all,  is  the  higher  civilization,  then 
Israel  was  and  is  indispensably  necessary.  He  was  and  is  the 
providential  means  to  bring  that  about.  He  must  continue  to 
exert  his  efforts  and  accomplish  it.  Hence  he  must  not  shirk 
his  burden,  not  shrink  from  setting  a  noble  example  of  self- 
sacrifice  for  his  platform.  At  any  price  and  cost  he  must  set 
the  example  of  sacrifice,  austerity.  To  give  up,  stop  half- 
way and  yield  to  materialism,  to  the  civilization  of  force  and 


^6  EXODUS,    MOSES    AND    THE    DECALOGUE, 

pleasure,  is  tantamount  to  betrayal  of  his  providential  mission 
as  priest-people,  and  that  would  be  not  only  treachery  to  man- 
kind, but  also  moral  suicide.  Hence  we  cannot  give  up,  but 
"Whatever  God  has  bidden,  we  shall  perform."  Whosoever 
shirks  his  providential  task  loses  his  right  to  be.  We  are  the 
heirs  of  history,  of  our  fathers ;  their  rights  and  duties  passed 
over  to  us.  We  are  identified  with  our  ancestors  by  blood, 
spirit  and  idiosyncrasy.  We  are  the  late  generation  of  Horeb 
living  thirty-five  centuries  after  Horeb.  Their  duty  is  ours 
and  their  mission  is  ours.  We  have  inherited  their  racial 
and  psychical  features,  as  also  their  providential  task.  We 
cannot  repudiate  them.  Behold,  scarcely  half  a  century  has 
elapsed  since  Israel's  reluctant  emancipation,  yet  how  imposing 
he  stands  in  all  the  honorable  avenues  of  human  exhibit,  in 
State  and  Church,  science,  art,  literature,  industry.  Our  ene- 
mies complain  of  him  as  a  would-be  aristocracy !  Yes,  but  we 
are  not  an  aristocracy  of  the  sword,  conquest,  privilege,  ex- 
ploiting club-law,  powder  and  lead !  No.  We  are  one  of 
brain,  spirituality,  work,  culture  and  idealism ;  we  are  one  of 
educating,  liberating  and  elevating  the  masses ;  we  are  every- 
where the  liberals,  the  democrats,  the  enfranchisers.  That 
lofty,  proud  ideal  held  up  to  us  at  Mt.  Horeb ,  to  be  "a  king- 
dom of  priests  and  holy  nation,"  we  hold  that  up  to  all  man- 
kind, we  teach  them  the  same  one  God  and  same  Ten  Words ; 
the  fatherhood  of  God,  the  brotherhood  of  man,  the  equality 
before  the  Law ;  no  war  of  creed,  races,  peoples  and  countries ; 
no  pan-Slavism,  pan-Latinism,  pan-Germanism,  but  pan- 
humanity  ;  not  Jew  against  Gentile,  Occident  against  Orient, 
but  "Peace!  peace  to  those  far-off  and  those  near  by."  Repre- 
senting those  principles,  sacrificing  and  battling  for  them  dur- 
ing these  last  thirty-five  centuries,  we  cannot  give  them  up. 
Surrender  would  be  betrayal  of  our  providential,  humanitarian 
trust  and  of  our  own  ethnical  existence,  it  would  be  self- 
elimination,  suicide. 

RECAPITULATION  AND  SUMMARY. 

Let  us  now  summarize:  "Ye  shall  be  a  kingdom  of  priests 
and  holy  nation,"  is  the  investiture,  the  consecration  formula 
of  Israel,  the  turning  point  of  his  entire  national  history. 
When  one  asks:  What  is  the  task  of  that  people?  What 
makes  out  its  right  to  be?    What  is  the  secret  of  its  endur- 


RECAPITULATION  AND  SUMMARY.  97 

ance?  When  the  Gentile  world  wonders  at  the  phenomenon  of 
Judah's  existence,  then  answer:  We  have  been  consecrated  to 
the  universal  priesthood,  to  administer  to  man's  spiritual  needs, 
to  the  One-God  belief  and  the  one  religion  of  civilized  man ;  our 
task  is  man's  higher  domain,  the  culture  of  the  mind,  the  heart, 
the  brain;  thinking,  learning  and  teaching,  all  resumed  in  the 
concept  of  religion,  all  deep  at  the  base  of  truly  humane,  spiritual 
life. 

That  consecration  formula:  "Be  ye  a  kingdom  of  priests" 
expresses  clearly  and  distinctly  Israel's  mission ;  that  solves  the 
wondrous  riddle  of  his,  else,  enigmatic  history.  Why  had  he 
outlived  all  antique,  powerful  nations?  Because  his  basis  is 
Spirit,  mind,  immortal  interests !  Why  has  he  remained  numer- 
ically so  weak?  Because  the  mass  of  the  people  never  rallies 
around  spirit-concerns,  because  spirit  is  not  tangible  enough  for 
it,  because  a  minority  only  comprehends  such  ideas.  Devoted  to 
such  affairs  of  the  mind,  Israel  can  never  die,  as  mind  never  dies. 
As  such  he  will  ever  conquer  and  forever  remain  a  minority,  as 
the  intelligent  and  the  good  always  are,  as  the  divine  spirit  ever 
moves  in  the  minority  !^ 

That  consecration  formula  is  Juda's  patent  of  nobility,  it  is 
the  noblest  blazon  ev-er  a  people  exhibited.  The  aristocracy  of 
blood  and  of  conquest  is  questionable,  but  the  nobility  of 
mind  will  ever  stay.  That  consecration  carries  with  itself  the 
heaviest  responsibility  ever  imposed  upon  a  race  of  man.  So 
avers  the  well  known  adage :  ''Nobility  obliges,"  rights  impose 
duties.  Appertaining  to  the  oldest  historic  stock,  the  eldest  son 
of  civilization,  distinguished  and  illustrious  by  untold  misfortunes 
and  undying  glories,  you  must  dearly  pay  the  important  honor 
of  being  Jews.  Sure,  a  surrender  of  principle  would  gain 
for  you  all  worldly  advantages,  but  nobility  obliges !  Your 
historical  position,  your  honor,  your  claims  on  mankind  would 
be  lost.  But  is  that  not  over-estimation?  No,  it  is  Consci- 
ence !  Why  make  greater  sacrifices  for  duty,  religion,  educa- 
tion, for  extra  Sabbaths  and  holidays?  Why  continue  a  mi- 
nority, bear  insolence,  ostracism?  Answer:  Because  we  are 
Jews  and  nobility  obliges.  Since  Sinai,  3,500  years  ago  our 
gens  has  been  set  apart  as  a  priest-people,  as  a  model  to  the 
nations ;  this  is  Israel's  right  to  be,  and  to  this  he  clings  and 


1  Matthew  Arnold.     His  lecture  on  the  Remnants  and  the  Minorities. 


98  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE 

adheres.  Why  are  your  habits  and  your  diet  to  be  more 
choicy,  more  in  accordance  to  the  best  principles  of  hygiene, 
physiology  and  psychology  ?  Answer :  Because  we  are  Jews  ; 
we  are  to  be  healthy  in  body  and  in  soul ;  health,  cleanliness, 
public  and  private  hygiene  are  prescribed  to  us  as  part  of 
religion,  for  only  healthy  souls  in  healthy  bodies  make  up  a 
"holy  nation."  Cleanliness  in  body  is  preparing  for  holiness  in 
soul,  both  make  out  the  true  priesthood.  Do  you  aim  by  that  at 
dominion,  at  aristocracy?  No,  we  set  thereby  merely  an  ex- 
am.ple  of  a  higher,  private  and  public  hygiene,  of  purity  in 
diet,  frugality,  chastity  in  habits,  showing  to  the  people  how  to 
realize  sound  souls  in  sound  bodies,  how  to  bring  about  a 
nobler  type,  with  m.ore  health  and  more  spirit,  and  gradually 
make  all  humanity  a  "kingdom  of  priests  and  a  holy  nation." 
If  we  aspire  at  an  aristocracy,  it  is  one  to  embrace  all  mankind, 
an  uplifting  of  all  races,  an  improvement  of  all  classes,  the 
sanctification  of  all  human  beings,  the  masses. 

When  you  are  asked :  Why  must  your  women  be  more  do- 
mestic, retired,  plain  and  frugal,  less  ostentatious  in  manners  and 
speech,  dress  and  ornamentation,  more  choicy  in  their  company, 
more  modest  and  more  reserved,  less  brilliant  and  more  solid, 
more  handy,  hearty,  brainy  ?  To  this  answer :  Because  we  are 
Jews,  instituted  as  the  priestly  people,  the  pattern  nation  for  man- 
kind. Answer  that  question  by  a  counter-question,  appealing 
to  facts,  to  well  known  history :  Why  has  the  old-time  Jewish 
woman  ever  maintained  such  a  high  standing  in  history?  Be- 
cause of  her  good  sense,  her  modesty,  her  virtue,  her  simplicity, 
her  industry,  her  self-sacrificing  devotedness  to  her  husband,  fam- 
ily and  people.  And  why  was  to  her  conceded  such  excellence,  to 
be  the  pattern  of  womanhood,  at  a  time  when  her  race  and  religion 
were  generally  despised  and  hooted  by  the  silken  and  by  the  cotton 
mob?. .  .This  was  just  the  outcome  of  the  "kingdom  of  priests." 
This,  too,  is  the  example  set  by  Israel's  women :  Mankind  and 
womankind  have  wisely  and  greatly  profited  by  that  example.  The 
present  Gentile  marriage,  family,  womanly  dignity,  position  and 
refined  social  relations  are  according  to  the  pattern  of  the  Biblical 
Eve,  not  the  Greek  Pandora.  Compare  the  status  of  the  present 
Christian  woman  with  that  of  her  ancestor  in  the  times  of  Rome, 
Greece,  Persia,  Scandinavia,  India?  Has  not  the  Biblical  example 
powerfully  contributed    to    the    elevation    of    all    womanhood? 


RECAPITULATION   AND    SUMMARY.  99 

Man  and  woman  at  large  have  improved  their  status,  since  the 
last  two  thousand  years — and  this,  thanks  to  the  pattern  set  by 
the  "priestly  people  and  holy  nation,"  brought  over  to  them  by 
Judeo-Christian  missionaries  and  apostles. 

To  all  such  queries  and  many  more  such  historical  questions  and 
puzzles,  answer :  Because  we  are  Jews,  nobility  obliges !  Because 
thousands  of  years  ago  the  Eternal  God  told  our  fathers :  "Ye 
shall  be  unto  me  a  kingdom  of  priests  and  holy  nation."  Ye 
shall  devote,  not  to  pleasure,  power,  wealth  or  military  glory,  but 
to  the  spiritual  domain,  educating,  thinking,  working,  improving, 
setting  the  example  of  higher  development,  of  a  more  perfect 
man  and  woman. 

And  your  fathers  accepted  that  mission,  narrates  our  text. 
They  answered :  "Whatever  the  Eternal  has  ordained,  we  shall 
perform."  And  they  have  performed  that ;  indeed,  amidst  har- 
rowing obstacles  and  cruel  persecutions.  And  history  shows  that 
you  are  the  heirs  to  your  sires ;  that  upon  you  has  descended 
their  task,  their  rights,  their  duties ;  you  are  to  continue  and  real- 
ize their  promise  given  at  Sinai.  The  heavy  burden  of  an  illus- 
trious mission,  as  a  priestly  people,  a  nation  of  mind,  rests  upon 
your  shoulders  and  you  must  adhere  to  it.  You  must  bear  your 
crown,  however  heavy  and  thorny;  you  are  wedded  to  it  in  eter- 
nal marriage;  you  cannot  unmake  history.  Every  one  must  ful- 
fill his  task  or  perish.  Therefore,  what  you  must  do,  do  it  with  a 
good  grace,  do  it  cheerfully.  Act  in  a  way  that  you  should  be 
worthy  of  your  motto,  a  motto  which,  when  raised  to  a  universal 
rule,  would  realize  the  highest  human  civilization.  Act  in  a  way 
as  not  to  be  misunderstood.  In  your  assent  and  your  dissent,  in 
your  unity  with  or  isolation  from  fellow-mankind,  see  to  it  that 
you  be  not  misinterpreted,  that  they  see  and  cheerfully  recognize 
that  your  partial  dissent  is  not  dictated  by  fanaticism  and  bigotry, 
not  by  vain-glory  and  race  pride,  but  by  your  mature  convic- 
tions, by  your  sincerely  believing  it  to  be  your  providential 
Sinaic  mission,  by  the  desire  to  set  up  a  nobler  example  for 
human  endeavors,  imposed  upon  you  by  your  4,000  years  history 
and  doctrines.^  During  our  2,500  years'  diaspora,  our  sages 
may  have  enacted  a  great  many  observances  and  ceremonies,  in 
our  habits,  dress,  dwelling,  diet,  manners,  social  intercourse,  wor- 
ship and  education,  aiming,  decidedly  and  solely  at  differentiat- 

1  Beginning  with  Abraham. 


100  EXODUS,    MOSES    AND    THE    DECAi^OGUE. 

ing  and  dissimilating  Jew  from  Gentile,  at  building  up  Chinese 
walls  around  every  single  Israelite,  at  rendering  each  a  nucleus 
and  germ  for  future  Judaism.  The  harsh,  barbarous  surround- 
ings induced  them  to  such  measures.  God  thanks,  times  are 
better.  Chinese  walls  we  need  not  any  longer.  In  this  we  differ 
from  the  past  centuries.  We  are  no  zealots  and  no  bigots. 
Wherever  we  differ,  we  aim  simply  at  setting  up  a  rule  and 
model  of  pure,  healthy,  bodily  and  intellectual  life,  good  for  all 
civilized  men. 

GENESIS  OF  THE  DECALOGUE. 
(EXODUS   19-20,   THEME.) 

What  is  the  import  of  the  Ten  Commandments  of  Sinai  ?  Why 
have  they  so  wonderfully  spread  and  become  the  patrimony  of 
mankind?  Why  have  the  three  hundred  millions  of  Christians, 
the  four  hundred  millions  of  Mohammedans,  the  hundreds  of 
millions  of  Hindoos  and  Buddhists  and  Chinese,  indeed,  all  the 
peoples,  more  or  less  civilized,  recognized  the  Decalogue  as  of 
paramount  importance  to  any  human  society?  Yea,  as  the  very 
backbone  and  organic  law  of  civilization?  Let  us  look  to  it 
closely  and  intently,  and  see  what  it  purports  and  teaches ,  under 
what  circumstances  and  for  what  aim  and  purpose  it  was  pro- 
mulgated. Let  us  examine :  First,  Its  genesis,  the  circumistances 
under  which  it  was  revealed ;  Second,  Its  doctrines  and  teachings, 
metaphysical,  moral,  social,  civil;  Third,  Its  practical  workings 
in  history,  if  and  how  it  was  realized  in  the  development  of 
Israel,  and  next,  in  the  development  of  mankind ;  its  bearing 
upon  the  Judaean  people,  originally  and  specially  intended  for, 
and  next,  upon  the  human  race,  as  its  climax  and  great  final 
object;  has  it  brought  about  the  "kingdom  of  priests  and  holy 
nation?"  How  far  has  it  succeeded  in  the  first,  and  how  far 
in  the  latter  one?  We  shall  begin  now  with  examining  the 
genesis  of  the  Decalogue. 

A  horde  of  enslaved  Shemitic  nomads  and  laborers,  led  by  the 
first  of  the  Hebraic  prophets,  the  greatest  legislative  genius  of 
antiquity,  about  3,500  years  ago,^  left  under  the  most  arduous 
difficulties,  the  country  of  their  bondage,  the  then  most  advanced 

1  Between  1650  to  1300  before  the  Christian  aera. 


GENESIS  OF  THE  DECALOGUE.  wi 

and  powerful  Egypt,  Mizraim,  on  the  borders  of  the  Nile,  on 
the  confines  of  Asia  and  Africa.  That  horde  of  Shemitic  laborers 
was  to  be  made  a  nation,  a  civilized  and  religious  people,  to 
throw  off  any  remnants  of  foreign  idolatry,  to  become  law- 
abiding,  settled  in  permanent  dwellings  and  lands  in  Khanaan,  the 
pasture  grounds  of  their  sires,  the  patriarchs.  The  mass  of  the 
people  was  to  devote  to  agriculture,  to  become  peaceful  and  do- 
mestic, to  cattle  raising,  to  settled  civic  occupations  and  habits; 
whilst  its  scant  classes  were  to  devote  to  ethical  pursuits ;  all  were 
to  give  up  their  former  Arabian,  roving  dispositions,  with  a  grand 
object  in  view,  viz :  that  of  becoming  a  monotheistic,  spiritual, 
peace  and  right-representing  people,  "a  kingdom  of  priests  and 
holy  nation,"  a  pattern  for  the  surrounding  war-split  nations,  a 
teacher  of  those  doctrines  about  to  receive  at  Horeb.  The  sur- 
rounding nations,  Khanaanites,  Phoenicians,  etc.,  then  possessed  a 
high  civilization,  industrial,  commercial,  maritime.  But  they 
were  exceedingly  sensuous,  coarsely  material,  meanly  idolatrous, 
superstitious  and  polytheistic;  with  base  licentiousness,  impure 
worship,  human  sacrifices  and  priestcraft;  catering  to  the  very 
lowest  instincts  of  human  nature  and  mostly  neglecting  its  higher 
aspirations  and  needs,  the  very  opposite  to  the  contemplated 
"kingdom  of  priests  and  holy  nation." 

ARABIA  AND  SINAI. 

That  nascent  people  needed  before  everything  laws,  laws  based 
upon  rational,  moral,  authoritative,  divine,  self-evident  princi- 
ples. It  needed  laws,  moralization,  orderliness,  the  idea  of 
property,  justice  and  sympathy,  the  feeling  of  nationality,  patriot- 
ism, reciprocity,  solidarity,  to  supplant  the  nomadic,  semi-barbar- 
ous instincts  of  force,  cunning  and  selfishness,  to  change  it  into 
a  truly  civilized,  spirituaHzed  nation,  a  "kingdom  of  priests." 
The  horde  was  therefore  led,  at  once  after  its  issue  and  liberation 
from  Egypt,  into  grand  Arabia,  the  consecrated  country  of  lib- 
erty, wherein  never  yet  despotism  succeeded  permanently  to 
establish  its  domain,  where  since  the  old  Pharaohs  to  the  present 
Othmanli,  the  chains  of  slavery  never  could  be  permanently 
forged  and  riveted,  where  man  ever  was  privileged  to  assume  and 
hold  his  native  rights  and  independence. 


102  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

The  enfranchised  Hebrew  people  were  led  into  that  vast  and 
majestic  Arabian  desert,  to  the  then  already  well-known  and 
venerable  Mount  Horeb,  on  one  of  the  summits  of  the  peninsula 
and  wilderness  of  Sinai.  The  Arabian  peninsula  is  almost  a 
continent  by  itself.  Its  surface  is  about  as  vast  as  half  of  the 
United  States  country,  an  almost  uninterrupted  solitude,  inter- 
spersed with  but  rare,  small  veins  of  green,  watered  and  cultured 
spots,  oases,  where  some  Bedouin  sheikhs  with  their  herds  take 
up  their  temporary  abode.  Except  such  green  spots,  there 
stretch  but  uninterrupted  solitudes  of  dust  and  sand,  in  solemn 
monotony.  The  Sinai  region  is  a  ridge  of  mounts,  one  on  top 
of  the  other.  Of  the  prominent  points,  especially,  the  Horeb, 
presents  one  of  the  grandest  sights  of  earth;  from  the  summit 
you  may  discern  and  hear  the  roar,  and  see  at  its  base  roll  the 
waves  of  the  great  lakes  and  seas  of  the  then  known  world ;  the 
Mediterranean,  the  Red  Sea,  the  Persian  Gulf  and  the  Indian 
Ocean ;  looking  down  from  whose  heights  you  find  displayed  the 
various  countries  of  Asia,  Europe  and  Africa,  with  the  Sinai- 
Horeb  as  the  center,  the  throne  of  the  Deity.  The  entire  region 
abounds  in  hills,  mounts  and  peaks,  varying  with  picturesque 
dales  and  valleys,  with  abrupt  clefts,  ravines  and  precipices,  nar- 
row and  frightful ;  straight,  steep,  rocky  walls  and  deep  abysses. 
Such  sudden,  multiform  configurations  of  the  soil  naturally 
produce  in  quick  succession,  various  and  wonderful  echoes  and 
re-echoes,  produced  and  reproduced  and  reverberated  to  great 
distances  and  in  various  sounds  in  that  frequent  alternation  of 
mount,  rock,  dale  and  precipice,  rendering  back  the  voices  sent 
up  and  down,  to  and  from  the  numerous  neighboring  heights, 
thrown  back  by  the  rocks  and  reechoing  in  the  precipices  below. 

It  is  claimed  that  a  strong  shrill  shout  coming  from  some  of 
those  hills,  will  be  re-echoed  and  repeated  over  and  over,  even  as 
much  as  twenty-six  times,  and  hence  that  myriads  of  people  be- 
low could  hear  simultaneously  a  voice  sent  down  from  Horeb  or 
any  of  the  neighboring  heights. ^ 

In  the  I  and  II  Decalogue  (II  M.  20  and  V  M.  5),  this  pecuHar 
trait,  the  ''voices,"  or  echoes,  is  emphasized  as  "voice,"  "voices," 
and  once  even  as  "a  great  voice  that  never  ceased. "^    The  voices 


iSee  on  these  echoes,  Edwin  Robinson:  Description  of  Sinai.  The 
villa  Simmonetta,  near  Milan,  presents,  too,  such  frequent  echoes,  24 
to  56  in  number. 

^^n   lib)  bMi  b)p  ,n)b)p  ,bip  » 


HOREB  AND  ITS  IMPRESSIONS.  103 

there,  repeated  so  many  times,  may  allude  to  these  numerous 
echoes  of  the  Horeb  region.  Exodus  Rabba,  Jethro,  allude  also 
to  these  multiple  reverberations  from  the  Sinai  and  Horeb  ridges. 

This  is  the  grand  scene  of  the  organic  law  to  be  delivered,  and 
the  impressions  upon  the  people  could  but  correspond  to  the 
great  occasion  and  the  marvelous  scenery.  Here  the  people  of 
the  Exodus  is  described  as  witnessing  the  solemn  and  divine  act 
of  revelation,  memorable  for  all  times;  under  the  most  strange, 
av/ful,  and  tremendous  phenomena  of  that  gigantic  nature  ever 
exhibited  in  those  tropic  latitudes ;  the  dark  clouds  hiding  the 
mount,  as  in  a  nebulae,  emitting  thunder  and  flashes  of  light; 
volcanoes  breaking  out  and  scattering  their  lurid  flames  and 
lava  streams,  with  clouds  of  smoke;  the  lightning  rending  and 
wonderfully  illumining  the  atmosphere  in  all  directions ;  the 
crush  and  roar  of  tropic  thunderstorms,  pealing  to  the  dome  of 
heaven  and  majestically  reverberating  in  the  numerous  dales, 
rocks  and  hollows  of  the  mountainous  and  craggy  Sinaic  penin- 
sula. 

All  that  re-echoes  in  the  hearts  of  the  myriads  of  people 
standing  at  the  foot  of  Horeb,  the  divine  mount.  They  stand 
around  in  holy  trembling  and  awe,  awaiting  their  own  salvation 
and  that  of  their  children,  for  long  generations  to  be  born,  from 
that  eventful  hour.  The  deep  waters  of  the  Red  Sea  recoil  in  awe. 
The  vast  solitudes  of  Arabia,  the  Sahara,  and  Lybia  suspend 
their  monotony.  The  imposing  cataracts  at  the  sources  of  the 
Nile  interrupt  their  dashing  and  roaring  falls.  The  busy,  great, 
western  nations  and  the  innumerable  tribes  of  Africa,  Arabia 
and  Aetheopia  forget  for  a  moment  their  eternal  warfares.  They 
all  gaze  at  the  spectacle  on  Horeb.  Nature  is  in  high  excitement. 
Nature  travails.  She  begets  the  nation  of  mind.  Israel  is  com- 
ing into  the  world.  The  skies  are  rent  asunder,  the  heavenly 
hosts  stand  m  m.ajestic  array.  They  shout  in  eternal  chorus; 
Holy!  holy!  holy!  is  Ihvh-Zebaoth,i  the  Lord  of  the  heavenly 
hosts.  And  down  from  on  high  alights  the  Shekhina..  The 
veiled  majesty  of  the  invisible  Supreme  descends  on  the  summit 
of  high  Horeb.  There  stands  waiting,  rapt  in  deep  meditation, 
the  grand  prophet,  Moshe.    He  waits  in  silence  for  the  inspira- 


iThat  the  Hebraic  Zebaoth's  etymology  is  akin  to  the  Greek  Zees 
and  Zevs  is  not  decided. 


104  EXODUS,    MOSES    AND    THE    DECALOGUE. 

DECALOGUE  TEXT  AND  SENSE. 
I_V.     COMMANDMENT. 

tion  of  the  Universal  Spirit.  Kneel  down,  O  ye  nations  of  earth, 
veil  your  faces  and  fall  prostrate,  ye  mortals.  Lo !  Mind  is  mar- 
rying matter,  God  is  in  communion  with  man. 

"I  am  Ihvh,  thy  God,  who  has  brought  thee  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt,  the  house  of  bondage.  Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods 
in  My  presence"  (II  M.,  xx,  2-3). 

Anochi,  I  am:  God  is  one.  There  are  not  two  gods,  as  claimed 
by  the  doctrine  of  Zoroaster;  not  three  gods,  as  the  triads  and 
trinities  of  Brahmanism,  Egyptology,  Christianity,  etc.;  not  four 
gods,  the  so-called  four  elements ;  not  the  all-substance  of  ancient 
philosophers.  Chaos ;  not  the  m.any  gods  or  forces  of  nature ;  not 
the  gods  of  mythology,  Greek,  Roman,  Egyptian,  Assyrian,  Baby- 
lonian ;  not  dualism,  trinitarianism,  polytheism,  pantheism,  or 
atheism. 

Anochi,  I  am,  God  is  the  Absolute  Existence,  the  Being,  alone 
absolutely,  eternally  and  necessarily  existing.  All  other  beings 
are  accidental,  creatures  voluntarily  called  forth  by  His  free 
divine  volition.  He  alone  is,  absolutely  and  necessarily  and 
from  all  eternity,  existing.  All  other  beings  are  and  could  not  be, 
they  are  and  may  soon  alter,  change  and  disappear.  He  alone  is, 
was  and  will  be ;  necessarily  be,  without  change,  and  in  all  eternity. 

Anochi,  I  am,  God  is,  He  is  the  Being,  the  Essence,  the  Life, 
the  First  and  Supreme  Cause,  the  Cause  of  all  causes,  the  Origin, 
Creator,  and  Providence  of  the  universe. 

Anochi,  I  am,  God  is  the  reality  of  all  beings  existing.  Every- 
thing else  is  but  temporal,  changeable,  ephemeral ;  God  alone  is 
immutable  and  everlasting.  He  is  Supreme  Consciousness,  In- 
telligence, volition,  power,  goodness,  all-holiness ;  He  is  con- 
sciousness personified  and  extra  mundane.  He  is  not  a  physical 
person,  not  embodied  and  incarnated,  not  with  human  passions, 
attributes  and  needs.  No !  He  is  Mind,  Spirit,  in  contradistinc- 
tion to  matter;  He  is  the  soul  and  life  of  the  universe,  to  be  dis- 
tinguished from  matter,  the  existing  bodies,  the  endless  physical 
creatures  of  the  universe.  He  is  its  Creator  and  Conservator,  the 
Soul  of  all  existence.^    Nature  is  His  creature,  the  universe  is  His 


iGabirol  calls  him  in  Keser-IMalchuth:   The  Soul  of  the  universal  souL 


DECALOGUE  TEXT  AND  SENSE.  105 

revelation,  His  manifestation,  His  only  embodiment.  His  living 
robe  and  pallium. ^  He  is  its  ever  active  principle,  first  cause, 
energy,  All-Power,  its  support,  lever,  and  innermost  sap.  The 
universe  rests  in  His  Creative  bosom.  His  thought  is  creation.^ 

Anochi,  He  is  not  limited  by  the  totality  of  existing  bodies; 
matter  is  His  free  creation,  not  His  part  and  not  necessarily  cre- 
ated. Such  is  the  Mosaic  conception  of  God,  Ihvh,  the  Being, 
the  only  One.  It  rejects  materialism,  pantheism,  Spinozism,  Par- 
seeism,  Hegelianism.  God  is  the  free  Creator,  Soul,  and  conscious 
Providence  of  nature. 

This  God-conception  may  be  challenged  by  the  philosopher; 
that  He  is  personal  and  free,  that  the  universe  is  His  free  creation ; 
that  the  creatures  are  not  the  products  of  iron  necessity;  that 
they  could  be,  or  not  be,  or  otherwise  be ;  that  God  can  change 
them  at  will,  etc.,  this  is  not  scientific,  but  it  is  Mosaic,  Biblic,  and 
fits  best  the  exalted  God-belief  underlying  our  society.  Here  is 
practical  good  sense  superior  to  the  abstract  reasonings  of  Plato 
and  Aristotle,  Spinoza,  Schopenhauer,  or  Herbert  Spencer. 

Anochi,  Ihvh,  I  am  Ihvh,  the  Being,  I  am  He  who  ever  is,  in 
the  past,  the  present,  and  future,  ever  and  everywhere,  omnis- 
cient, omnipresent,  and  eternal,  pervading  endless  time  and  bound- 
less space ;  He  alone  is  uncreated,  uncomposed  of  attributes,  atoms 
or  elements,  a  strict,  rigorous.  Unique,  Supreme,  One  God,  Mono- 
theos,  Ihvh,  Achad. 

Elohacha,  God  alone  is  Elohim,  he  resumes  and  centers  in  his 
own  unique  Being  all  the  powers  and  attributes  of  the  ancient 
polytheistic  gods ;  he  is  the  sum  of  all  the  forces  of  nature,  he 
vivifies  and  upholds  all ;  as  the  sun-heat  energizes  the  vegetation. 
There  are  no  other  gods,  Elohim,  besides  him,  he  is  the  only  One. 
The  once  popular  gods  and  genii  were  fictions  or  scattered 
divine  attributes,  or  the  agents  and  forces  of  nature.  He  the  only 
One  God,  resumes  them  all  in  his  own  indivisible  supreme 
Being. 

Elohacha,  that  Only  One  God  of  the  universe,  is  the  God  of 
Israel ;  no  polytheism,  no  local,  tribal,  ancestral,  or  national 
gods.  The  God  of  Israel,  of  Zion  is  the  God  of  mankind  and 
of  the  universe,  all. 

"Who  brought  thee  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  the  house  of 
bondage,"  viz. :    The  God  of  all  mankind  and  of  all  countries  is 

iDer  Gottheit  lebendi_ges  Kleid.     Goethe. 
2Vedanta,  Artistotle,  Maimonides. 


io6  EXODUS,   MOSES    AND   THE   DECALOGUE. 

the  God  of  freedom  and  justice  for  all.  He  did  not  make  some 
the  masters  and  others  the  slaves.  He  is  a  God  of  universal 
freedom,  justice  and  equity.  He  breaks  the  chains  of  serfs  and 
the  scepters  of  would-be  masters.  He  created  and  patented  none 
to  rule  and  none  to  slave. 

"Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  in  my  presence"  (Besides 
Me),  because  there  are  none  whatever.  The  heathen  gods, 
national,  tribal  and  local,  are  fictions,  or  divinized  parents,  or 
apotheosized  heroes,  or  poeticized  natural  forces.  They  are  no 
gods,  their  substance  is  ever  absorbed  by  the  only  one  God. 

"Thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thee  any  graven  image  or  figure 
(emblematic  of  divinity).  Thou  shalt  not  bow  down  to  and 
worship  them."  God,  being  spirit,  can  never  be  adequately 
represented  by  any  material  emblem.  Being  the  essence  of  all, 
he  cannot  be  symbolized  by  a  part,  statue,  picture,  mount,  sun 
or  star;  being  eternal,  he  can  not  be  represented  by  anything 
finite.  In  order  to  avoid  misunderstanding,  all  idol-worship 
must  be  discarded.  God  is  infinite  Mind  and  may  be  grasped, 
though  never  fully  comprehended,  only  by  man's  mind,  a  ray 
from  the  divine  mind,  never  by  the  senses  of  men. 

"Thou  shalt  not  bear  (or  utter)  the  name  of  God  in  vain." 
God,  the  Supreme  Cause,  the  Essence,  the  life  of  all  existence 
is  man's  most  exalted  and  holy  conception.  Therefore,  no 
profanation,  no  frivolity,  no  levity  in  presence  of  Him.  The 
God-idea  is  the  talisman  and  palladium  of  the  highest  in  man. 
The  divine  name  frivolously  used  and  profaned,  the  man-idea, 
manhood  is  wrecked  and  brutalized.  Having  thus  established 
a  firm  base  for  the  universe  and  for  its  conscious  citizen,  man, 
the  Decalogue  proceeds  to  establish  and  elucidate  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  individual,  the  family,  the  State,  and  society. 

"Remember  the  Sabbath  day  to  sanctify  it.  During  six  days 
thou  shalt  work  and  the  seventh  day  is  a  rest,  consecrated  to 
thy  God;  neither  thou  nor  thy  son  and  daughter,  nor  thy  ser- 
vant nor  thy  cattle,  nor  the  stranger  in  thy  precincts,  shall 
work  on  it."  During  six  days  man  shall  work,  the  seventh 
day  is  for  rest  and  sanctification;  to  pause  and  recreate  the 
body,  to  refresh  and  energize  the  mind ;  it  is  consecrated  to 
mental,  moral,  spiritual  culture;  the  patrimony  of  the  better 
half  of  human  needs ;  to  reconquer  one's  noble  birth  right, 
man's  rehabilitation  and  restoration.  The  Rest-day  paves  the 
way  to  the  higher  human  aspirations. 


DECALOGUE  TEXT  AND  SENSE.  107 

"Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother  that  thou  mayest  live 
long."  Honor  and  cherish  thy  parents,  who  represent  to  you, 
O  young  ones,  God  on  earth.  You  owe  to  them  your  being, 
your  education,  support,  name,  start  in  life,  and  future.  They 
have  cared  and  toiled,  loved  and  cheered  you,  lived  and  sacri- 
ficed for  you.  You  are  their  bodily  immortality,  their  hope 
and  joy.  Honor  and  cherish  them  as  you  do  God  on  high. 
Without  filial  piety  the  family  fades  and  withers,  and  without 
it  decay  State  and  society  also.  Family  piety  was  for  thou- 
sands of  years  a  notable  trait  in  the  Jewish  household,  mutual 
tenderness  of  its  members,  self-sacrifice  of  the  parents,  obedi- 
ence and  reverence  of  the  children.  May  that  feature  never  be 
lost  to  the  human  race. 

SIXTH  TO  TENTH  COMMANDMENTS. 

"Thou  shalt  not  murder.  Thou  shalt  not  commit  inchas- 
tity."  "Thou  shalt  not  steal."  Respect  the  life,  the  purity  and 
the  property  of  thy  fellow-man.  Let  their  life,  honor  and 
well-being  be  sacred  unto  thee;  spare  the  dignity  and  char- 
acter of  womanhood,  the  labor  and  the  produce  of  thy  fellow- 
workers.  These  make  up  the  first  elements  and  the  basis  of 
a  community,  the  possibility  of  society.  Without  these  the 
State  is  a  gathering  of  wolves  and  bears.  The  sacredness  of 
human  life,  chastity,  property  and  justice  is  a  paramount  re- 
quisite of  human  happiness. 

Do  not  commit  murder,  lewdness,  theft  and  robbery,  they 
are  universal,  absolute  categories  and  prohibitions,  not  limited 
to  country,  race  or  sect.  Spare,  by  all  means,  human  life, 
honor  and  ov/nership,  of  friend  or  foe,  fellow-citizen  or  for- 
eigner. Here  is  the  noble  universalism  of  the  Decalogue  stand- 
ing alone  in  all  antiquity.  Everywhere  else  the  murder  of 
an  enemy,  even  treacherously  done,  was  lawful,  yea,  encour- 
aged as  glorious.  The  Teuton,  the  Spartan,  the  Scitian  and  Mon- 
golian, inaugurated  his  manhood  by  murder  and  robbery,  a 
citizen  must  be  a  manslayer.  The  same  was  theft,  deceit  and 
robbery,  honorable  when  committed  upon  a  stranger;  toil  and 
saving  were  ever  despised.  Barbarian,  Greek,  German,  Persian, 
Roman,  all,  thought  them  beneath  their  dignity.  War  and  depre- 
dation, spoils  were  alone  accounted  worthy  of  a  man.  The  slave 
worked  and  saved,  while  the  freeman  idled,  warred,  pillaged 
and  w^asted.    That  was  the  polity  of  the  military  regime. 


io8  EXODUS,    MOSES    AND    THE    DECALOGUE. 

Even  so  chastity  was  no  universal  duty.  Many  peoples  took 
unchastity,  lubricity  into  the  very  service  of  the  gods.  Wo- 
man was  a  slave,  ever  she  was  to  be  and  remain  somebody's 
belonging.  She,  personally,  had  no  rights  and  no  dignity,  and 
was  to  yield  to  some  master.  Such  was  the  model  Pandora. 
Mosaism  alone  declared  her  a  citizen,  with  rights,  often  even 
over  and  above  those  of  men.  When  sold  as  a  child,  by  a  poor 
father,  she  was  to  be  wedded  by  her  master,  or  his  son,  or  go 
out  freei,  as  soon  as  coming  of  age.  Mosaism  prohibited  free 
love  as  impure  and  heathen  and  bid  marriage  as  civilized  man's 
natural  condition. 

The  rabbis  declare  the  conjugal  union  as  the  very  first 
scriptural  Commandment  (I  M.,  i.,  28).  The  ancient  world 
ever  oscillated  between  the  extremes.  They  indulged  in  either ; 
first  lubricity,  then  monachal  abstinence ;  whilst  both  are 
unnatural,  both  destructive  of  society.  Chastity,  monogamy 
are  the  safeguard  of  the  body  and  of  the  soul,  of  the  individual, 
the  family  and  the  state.  Otherwise  the  gangrene  v/ill  seize 
upon  and  destroy  either  and  all.  Civilized  mankind  has 
adopted  Mosaic  matrimony  (I,  M.,  ii.  24),  with  the  entire 
Decalogue,  not  the  oriental  free  love  and  monasticism.  The 
noblest  ideal  of  our  present  wedlock,  of  conjugal  love  and  of 
filial  piety,  the  model,  modern  family  is  Biblical ;  not  Pan- 
dora, but  Eve,  or  Sara,  or  Hannah  is  the  pattern  wife. 

The  Mosaic  woman  and  marriage  is  characterized  in  Eve's 
story  (Gen.  II.,  24).  "Therefore  shall  man  leave  his  father 
and  his  mother  and  cling  to  his  wife  and  form  one  person." 
Contrast  v/ith  this  the  very  pattern  of  ancient  Greek  ideality, 
Ulysses'  wife,  Penelopeia,  the  Hellenic  conception  of  woman- 
hood, her  position  and  her  moral  worth.  (Homer  Odysseias^)  : 


iSee  on  that,  Biblical  Legislation,  page  13. 

sodysseias,  Homer. 

I,  330:  Klimaka  d'  upselen  katebeseto  oio  domoio, — ouk  oie,  ama 
tege  kai  ampliipoloi  du'  eponto.  e  d'  ote  de  mnesteras  afiketo  dia  gunai- 
kon,  ste  ra  para  stathmon. .  .anta  pareiaon  schomene  lipasa  kredemna. 

I,  341:     Ete  moi  aiei  eni  stetliessi  filon  ker  teirei. 

I,  356:  Air  eis  oikon  iousa  ta  s'  autes  erga  komize, — iston  t'  elakaten 
te,  kai  amfipoloisi  keleue — ergon  epoichesthai. — muthos  d'  andressi  mel- 
esei  pasi,  malista  d'emoi.  tou  gar  kratos  est'  eni  oiko...H'  men 
thambesasa  palin  oikonde  bebekei. . . 

11,87:  Soi  d' outi  mnesteres  Achaion  aitioi  eisin,  alia  file  meter, 
6  toi  peri  kerdea  oiden.  Ede  gar  triton  estin  etos...ex  ou  atembei 
thumon  eni  stethessin  Achaion.  pantas  men  r'  elpei,  kai  upischetai 
andri  ekasto,  aggelias  proietsa.     noos  de    oi  alia  menoina. 

II,  222.  "Sema  te  oi  cheuo  kai  epi  kterea  ktereixo  polla  mal',  ossa 
eoike,  kai  aneri  metera  doso." 


SIXTH  TO  TENTH  COMMANDMENTS.  109 

Ulysses  not  returning-  home,  after  a  long  absence,  his  wife, 
Penelopeia,  is  besieged  by  a  crowd  of  impudent  suitors,  her 
substance  daily  being  eaten  up  by  them,  in  order  to  compel 
her  to  choose  one  of  them  as  her  spouse  She  is  alluded  to  by 
them  as  insincere,  and  double-tongued,  tempting  them  and 
keeping  them  in  suspense,  at  once  mourning  for  Ulysses  and 
preparing  for  a  future  husband,  claiming  that  she  tarried  to 
remarry  only  until  she  had  finished  weaving  a  pallium  for  her 
old  father-in-law,  Laertes,  but  really  temporizing  to  make  the 
best  of  the  opportunity,  w^aiting  for  her  old  husband  and  keep- 
ing in  suspense  eventual  reserve-suitors.  Even  her  son, 
scarcely  beyond  boyhood,  presumes  to  chide  and  scold  her, 
give  her  orders,  claims  the  right  of  giving  her  away  to  a  new 
husband !  Now,  remember  that  Ulysses,  Penelopeia  and  Tele- 
machus  belong  to  the  most  exalted  personages  of  the  Greek 
heroic  age  and  history.  Nevertheless,  how  low  is  here  the 
standard  of  womanhood  and  of  wedlock!  She  is  ever  owned 
by  somebody,  by  her  father,  her  husband  or  her  son ;  and  her 
sincerity  is  ever  doubted.  She  is  but  another  Pandora,  a 
charming  witch ;  not  Eve,  the  helpmeet  and  worthy  consort  of 
man. 

"Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness  against  thy  fellow-man." 
Do  not  belie  in  public  court  or  in  private.  Do  not  deny  or 
affirm  against  thy  conviction.  Let  truth,  sincerity  and  fair- 
ness prevail  in  all  thy  dealings.  To  be  a  man  is  to  keep  one's 
word.  Without  his  word,  a  man  is  but  a  thing.  That  prohi- 
bition implies  all  manner  of  lying.  It  is  not  limited  to  creed, 
country  and  race.  Leviticus,  XIX,  enlarges  upon  this :  "Ye 
shall  not  deny  to,  or  belie  one  another,  not  do  violence,  not 
slander,  not  secretly  hate  anybody,  but  ever  be  outspoken  and 
sincere" :     "Love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself." 

"Do  not  covet  thy  neighbor's  house,  or  his  wife  or  anything 
his."  Permit  no  craving  to  take  hold  of  thee  for  things  not 
thine.  Chasten  thy  passions,  bridle  thy  desires  and  thoughts, 
never  long  for  objects  out  of  thy  reach,  so  that  thy  hands  may 
remain  pure  and  clean  from  wrong-doing,  for  the  desire  is 
ever  father  to  the  deed.  The  wrong  feeling  is  the  root  and 
germ;  the  bad  thought,  the  flower,  and  the  deed  is  the  fruit. 
The  state  can  punish  only  bad  deeds.  Society  needs  purity 
of  will  as  well  as  of  hands ;  so  God  forbids  not  only  evil  deeds, 
but  even  evil  thoughts. 


no  EXODUS,   MOSES    AND   THE    DECALOGUE. 

Why  is  there  so  much  heart-burning  and  disappointment, 
jealousy  and  invidiousness,  dishonor  and  failure,  poorhouses, 
prisons  and  lunatic  asylums?  Because  "Thou  shalt  not  covet" 
was  not  heeded.  Here  is  a  fine  husband;  a  pretty,  rich  heiress, 
a  sparkling  necklace,  a  good  position !  Impure  cravings  lead 
to  criminal  actions.  Beware!  Stem  the  evil  just  at  the  start; 
that  is  the  easiest. 

This  second  half  of  the  Decalogue  is,  from  an  ethical  stand- 
point, reviewed,  enlarged  upon  and  elaborated  in  Leviticus 
XIX :  "Speak  to  the  entire  Congregation  of  Israel  and  tell 
them,  ye  shall  be  holy,  for  holy  am  I,  your  God."  The  belief 
that  God  exists  and  is  holy  and  perfect,  holds  up  to  man  an  exalted 
pattern  of  goodness  and  wisdom.  It  contributes,  as  far  as 
possible,  to  man's  aspirations  at  perfection  and  godlikeness. 
What  are  the  contents  of  such  a  godlikeness?  Let  every  per- 
son reverence  his  mother  and  his  father,  and  keep  my  Sabbath, 
(his  motive  to  be)  ;  I,  Ihvh,  am  your  God.  Turn  not  to  images 
and  idols;  give  to  the  poor  part  of  your  annual  produce;  do 
not  steal,  or  deny  the  truth,  or  tell  lies;  do  not  swear  frivolously 
by  my  name ;  use  no  violence ;  do  not  rob,  or  even  withhold  the 
timely  payment  of  thy  hired  man.  Do  not  curse  the  deaf,  or 
put  a  stumbling-block  in  the  blind  man's  way,  but  fear  God. 
Commit  no  wrong  when  rendering  public  justice.  Spare  not 
the  poor  and  respect  not  the  mighty  (in  judgment),  with  strict 
justice  judge  thy  fellow-citizen.  Do  not  go  tale-bearing 
among  thy  people,  and  do  not  stand  by,  conspiring  against  the 
life  of  thy  fellow-man.  I  am  Ihvh  (to  avenge  him).  Do  not 
bear  any  secret  hate  toward  thy  fellow-men.  Expostulate 
openly  with  him,  but  bear  no  secret  grudge  against  him.  Be 
not  revengeful,  but  love  thy  fellow  as  thyself,  "I  am  Ihvh." 

Carefully  examined,  Leviticus,  XIX,  is  simply  an  enlarging 
and  ethical  expounding  of  our  Ten  Words  analyzed ;  adding  as 
motive  and  stimulus  to  such  acts :  I  am  the  Lord,  the  friend 
of  truth  and  justice,  the  avenger  of  innocence.  Again,  ponder- 
ing over  these  latter  five  Commandments,  we  shall  find  them 
to  be  a  nucleus  of  the  practical  part  of  prohibitive  legislation, 
pointing  to  the  root  of  all  crime :  "Thou  shalt  not  murder,  not 
be  lascivious,  not  steal,  not  offer  false  testimony,  not  covet 
thy  fellow-man's  house,  his  wife  or  anything  his."  The  fifth 
to  the  ninth  Word  enumerate  the  leading  kinds  of  criminality; 
the  tenth  and  last  Word  gives  the  cue  to  the  four  preceding 


SIXTH  TO  TENTH  COMMANDMENTS.  iir 

ones :  Why  does  one  commit  murder,  lewdness,  theft,  bear 
false  witness?  Because  he  could  not  control  his  wayward 
desires,  his  dangerous  broodings,  because  he  hankered  for 
things  not  his.  Here,  the  brooding,  the  impure  heart,  the  un- 
controlled appetites  are  shown  as  the  source  of  the  evil,  the 
handle  to  the  criminal  acts.  The  State  can  punish  but  com- 
mitted deeds,  God  forbids  the  motives  just  as  well.  As  seen : 
wrong  desires  are  the  root,  the  crimes  are  the  fatal  off-shoot. 
Criminal  deeds  are  but  the  condensation  of  criminal  inclina- 
tions. We  give  them,  practically,  different  names,  but  they  are 
all  stealing  in  disguise.  They  grow  all  on  one  stem,  are  nur- 
tured by  one  venomous  juice  and  sap,  and  that  is :  uncontrolled 
covetousness.  To  satisfy  it,  one  steals  the  life  of  his  neighbor: 
murder ;  one  steals  his  wife  or  daughter's  honor :  lewdness ;  one 
steals  his  property:  theft;  one  steals  the  neighbor's  right  and 
truth :  false  testimony !  one  steals,  because  one  craves  the  other's 
goods.  Thus  Covetousness  is  the  fatal  root,  and  stealing  is 
the  baneful  fruit.  Thus  root  and  fruit  give  the  cue  to  most  of 
crime  and  misery :  The  desire  of  and  the  attempt  at  getting 
hold  of  property  not  ours.  Here  is  the  everlasting  Social 
Problem^  touched  upon,  economically,  ethically  and  psycho- 
logically, and  the  entire  Mosaic  agrarian  legislation  is  its  ex- 
pounding. It  proves  a  fine  insight  in  human  character,  psy- 
chology and  practical  affairs,  retracing  all  deeds  to  one  motive, 
apparently  intangible  and  innocent  enough :  Do  not  covet,  for 
wrong  wishes  and  thoughts  lead  to  wrong  deeds !  The  Mosaic 
family-acre,  the  laws  against  land  grabbing,  money-grabbing 
or  usury,  the  poor  and  charity-laws,  the  Sabbath  and  holidays, 
etc.,  all  grapple  with  the  Social  Problem,  greed  and  stealing.^ 

As  to  the  question:  What  is  property?  The  Biblical  legis- 
lator is  ever  clear  and  positive ;  leaving  no  room  for  Proudhon 
and  Communism^.  According  to  Moses,  property  is  what  you 
create  and  produce  by  your  work  or  receive  by  entail.  The 
land  is  created  by  God  and  ever  belongs  to  God  alone,  and  he 
lends  it  to  the  nation,  to  the  present  and  future  generations. 
It  is  fairly  to  be  parceled  out  in  equal,  inalienable  family  acres 
and  homesteads  and  be  given  to  each  adult  male,  by  lot,  to 
stay  with  his  descendants,  from  father  to  son,  forever  and 
aye.    It  is  never  to  be  alienated  or  sold  away  from  the  family. 


iSee  Bible  Legislation,  80-165. 

2In  his  book:  Qe  'est  ce  que  la  propriete?    C'est  le  vol. 


112  EXODUS,   MOSES   AND   THE   DECALOGUE. 

The  temporary  possessor  is  to  work  it,  live  on  its  produce,  and 
leave  it  intact  and  improved  to  his  own  posterity.  Land- 
grabbing  and  wastefulness  become  thus  impossible.  As  to 
movable  wealth,  that  belonged  to  him  who  produced  it  and 
his  heirs.  To  take  such  away  against  his  free  consent,  will 
and  knowledge  is  forbidden,  is  theft,  robbery,  over-reaching 
and  violence.  As  to  the  poor,  the  Law  reserved  for  them  a 
right  on  part  of  the  annual  crops :  they  can  moreover  appeal 
for  free  gifts  from  those  who  have.i  Thus  the  Bible  admits 
and  sanctions  property  acquired  by  work  and  inheritance. 

Cardinal  Manning,  some  years  ago,  brought  out  the  paradox 
that  a  starving  man  may  steal  a  loaf  of  bread  without  com- 
mitting the  crime  of  theft.  I  believe,  in  theory^  that  is  an 
error,  but  practically  the  loaf-thief  may  be  recommended  for 
mercy :  In  theory  he  is  a  thief,  but  in  practice  such  thieving 
is  no  moral  crime,  is  excusable.  Our  Commandment  thereon 
is  justly  peremptory,  unexceptional;  thieving,  robbing,  sneak- 
ing goods  not  ours,  is  a  sin,  wrong,  a  transgression  of  the  law. 
Here  is  the  application  of  the  verse,  III  M.,  19 :15 :  "Thou 
shalt  not  save  or  spare  (the  feelings  of)  the  poor."  The  poor 
may  and  shall  be  condoned,  but  stealing  is  ever  wrong,  under 
whatever  circumstances.  Of  course,  looked  upon  from  a  socio- 
logical, solidary  standpoint,  the  community  is  to  be  blamed  where 
an  honest  man  has  to  choose  between  theft  or  starvation. 
Stealing  is  ever  wrong,  if  even  a  loaf  and  hungry.  Indeed,  you 
claim,  one  loaf  may  be  stolen  without  sin?  How  are  tv/o 
loaves?  or  a  ton  of  coals  for  winter?  or  a  dress  for  one's  wife? 
or  five  hundred  dollars  as  a  dower  for  our  daughter?  or  a  house 
to  shelter  one's  five  children?  or  an  heiress  for  one's  hopeful 
son?  or  a  crown  for  a  prince?  Where  is  the  sure  limit  render- 
ing stealing  innocent  and  where  a  crime?  No  doubt,  God  is 
the  first  owner,  but  man  is  the  next,  and  to  rob  him  is  sin. 
Thus  Cardinal  Manning  is  right  as  a  philanthropist,  wrong  as 
a  lawgiver !  An  honest  man  returns  the  stipulated  value  of 
what  he  received  as  equivalent.  A  thief  steals,  or  robs,  or 
over-reaches,  or  gets  goods  without  the  consent  of  the  owner, 
or  without  giving  an  equivalent  in  money  or  work.  For  sure, 
he  tacitly  avails  himself  of  Cardinal  Manning's  argument :    I 


Blackstone  took  from  here  his  proposition  to  that  effect. 


MANIFOLD   STEALINGS,  ETC.  113. 

am  hungry  and  I  must  live !  A  witty  censor  forbade  the  pub- 
lication of  a  bad  book.  "Why  do  you  forbid  it?"  the  author 
asked.  "Because  it  is  worthless,"  the  censor  replied,  and  the 
other  said:  "But,  I  must  live."  "I  do  not  see  the  necessity 
thereof,"  the  censor  coolly  closed.  Even  so  the  Mosaic  law- 
giver :  "Thou  shalt  not  steal,"  whether  thou  livest  or  not. 
"Justice,  justice  pursue"..  .Spare  no  one.,  .for  justice  is  God's." 

Thus  all  wrong-doing  is  some  sort  of  stealing,  with  intent 
of  getting  some  one's  property :  The  student  who  neglected 
to  learn,  and  nevertheless  insists  upon  his  doctor's  diploma  ; 
the  workman  idling  away  his  time  and  asking  for  a  day's 
wages ;  the  bad  lawyer  or  physician,  practicing  and  killing  his 
case;  the  ignoramus  teaching;  the  artist  bungling  and  botch- 
ing; the  Congregation  passing  off  a  catering,  unprincipled 
talker  as  its  minister;  the  politic  preacher  flattering,  fawning 
and  dancing  around  the  golden  calves  on  the  exchange  or  in 
the  pew,  never  teaching  the  truth,  nor  improving  his  hearers — 
that  is  stealing,  implied  in  the  eighth  Commandment. 

The  newspaper  hunting  for  sensations,  praising  to  the  sky 
for  a  consideration,  belittling  merit  or  passing  it  in  silence 
from  envy  or  lack  of  the  awaited  price — that  is  bearing  false  tes- 
timony and  accessory  to  theft  and  robbery;  publicly  refusing 
praise  where  due  and  bestowing  it  where  undue,  is  social 
stealing.  Such  is  the  speculator  on  a  grand  scale  who  uses 
hypocritical  charity  and  ostentatious  announcements  as  a 
means  of  self-advertising,  simulation  and  veiling;  the  grandi- 
loquent "People's"  or  "Consumer's  Company"  adulterating- 
food  and  drink,  watering  the  milk  and  drugging  the  flour;  the 
magistrate  selling  the  law  for  a  bribe ;  the  state  officer  sacri- 
ficing his  public  duties  to  increase  his  chances  for  a  re-election ; 
the  legislature  enacting  laws  for  monopolies,  frail  beauty  en- 
hancing her  charms  by  artificial  means ;  tlie  manufacturer, 
confecting  shoddy  for  wool  and  silk,  tallow  for  butter,  sugar- 
mixed  with  clay ;  the  dealer  using  a  bushel  with  a  double  bot- 
tom, short  weight  and  short  measure — all  that  is  lying  and 
stealing.  So  is  unfairly  running  for  popularity,  sneaking  out 
the  people's  good  opinion ;  plagiarizing  others'  facts  and  ideas 
and  writing  a  new  book ;  trumpeting  up  fictitious  schemes  and 
becoming  a  great  man,  that  is  theft  and  lying.    Scattering  con- 


114  EXODUS,   MOSES   AND   THE   DECALOGUE. 

trived  war-reports  in  order  to  cause  a  panic  with  a  haiisse  or  a 
baisse  on  the  exchange;  artificially  raising  or  depressing  the 
public  stocks,  or  lowering  the  market  price  in  order  to  buy 
up  cheaply;  or  watering  bonds  to  increase,  fictitiously,  their 
values,  or  gambling  for  margins  and  inventing  fabulous 
schemes — that  is  theft,  robbery  and  false  testimony.  Inflam- 
ing the  popular  passions,  arousing  a  bloody  war  in  order  to 
annex  provinces ;  give  out  contracts  to  partisans,  and  open 
new  speculations  for  hungry  millionaires,  that  is  murder,  rob- 
bery, theft  and  false  testimony  combined.  All  that  flagrantly 
transgresses  half  of  the  Decalogue.  For  all  these  receive  values 
for  services  not  rendered  or  goods  never  returned.  All  these 
lie,  kill  and  bear  false  witness  in  order  to  steal  and  rob,  trans- 
gressing half  of  all  the  commandments  at  one  stroke. 

To  dismiss  honest  employees,  abruptly,  in  order  to  quietly 
lower  the  poor  man's  wages,  is  theft  and  murder.  To  arti- 
ficially increase  or  decrease  competition,  in  order  to  lower  or 
raise  prices  is  murder  in  disguise.  Lowering  work  and  rais- 
ing prices  is  killing  the  poor.  To  waste  away  public  money 
and  public  trust,  under  the  claim  of  patriotism  and  glory,  is 
stealing;  to  use  office  for  nepotism,  as  a  sine-curae,  for  one's 
good  friends,  is  stealing.  "Six  days  shalt  thou  labor  and  the 
seventh  rest,"  hence,  idling  away  the  week  is  stealing.  To 
dismiss  a  male  employee  for  a  female  or  for  a  child,  at  less 
than  half  pay  for  the  same  labor,  is  twice  stealing.  To  monop- 
olize a  necessary  article  and  create  an  artificial  scarcity  on  the 
market  or  the  exchange;  to  utilize  a  popular  scare,  a  vain 
rumor  and  realize  un-earned  fortunes — is  stealing  and  false 
testimony.  "A  wheat-corner,  a  sugar  and  coflfee-corner,  a  beef- 
corner,  a  coal,  oil  and  wood-corner,  is  no  better  than  the  common 
thief  of  the  street  corner." 

Here  is  a  huge  speculator,  who  chokes  the  law  with  his 
three  hundred  millions  of  shining  gold  pieces,  a  smart  fellow 
who  by  monopoly  contrived  to  sell  goods  costing  a  cent  for 
ten  cents.  But  he  builds  churches  and  subsidizes  universities. 
He  steals  the  entire  Decalogue  at  one  blow. 

Romulus,  Tullius,  both  the  Tarquinius,  Herod  the  Great  and 
their  compeers  committed  cumulative  parricide,  fomented  civil 
wars,  swallowed  up  entire  states  by  unjustifiable  wars,  but  at 
last  they  erected  munificent  shrines  and  temples ! 


MANIFOLD  STEALINGS,  ETC.  115 

The  Muscovite  grand  dukes  have  swallowed  and  annexed 
whole  peoples  and  countries,  eliminated  their  languages,  laws 
and  nationalities;  robbing  and  pillaging  to  the  right  and  the 
left,  they  have  agglomerated  half  of  Europe  and  Asia.  But 
they  are  orthodox!  All  that  is  a  shade  of  stealing :i  hypocrisy, 
murder,  spoliation  and  parricide  on  the  grandest  scale.  They 
are  lurid  illustrations  of  what  the  Ten  Commandments  depre- 
cate and  anathematize. 

After  we  have  discussed  the  import  of  the  five  latter  prohibi- 
tory, or  negative,  practical  tenets  of  the  Decalogue,  let  us  take  a 
glance  at  the  Agadic  suggestions,  with  their  considerations,  and 
then  again  turn  our  attention  to  the  first  half  of  our  theme,  the 
affirmative  Words,  concerning  the  Deity,  the  Sabbath,  and  filial 
piety,  the  theological,  ethical  and  sociological  sides  of  the  Mosaic 
Organic  Law.  Apparently  the  first  five  Commandments  are  of  a 
moral,  a  theoretical,  and  the  latter  five  are  of  a  practical  nature. 
Looked  at  from  another  standpoint,  both  halves  are  realistic, 
positive,  bearing  straight  upon  their  object;  whilst  all  the  Ten 
Words  aim  at  the  improvement  of  man,  man  as  he  is,  neither 
angel  nor  demon. 

The  first  great  reality  is  God.  God  in  Mosaism,  is  not  simply  an 
idea,  a  human  abstract  concept,  or  a  vague  ideal.  No ;  God  in  the 
Bible  is  the  Reality,  the  all-absorbing  personality  in  the  world's 
tableau.  World  and  man  are  fleeting  shadows,  ephemeral,  ever 
changing;  God  alone  is  real,  constant,  permanent,  the  substance 
behind  the  form,  the  reality  behind  the  appearance,  the  active 
principle  behind  passive  matter,  the  Creator  emanating,  irradiat- 
ing, spinning  creation  out  of  himself.  His  legislation,  too,  is 
positive,  personal  and  realistic.  This  is  the  leading  characteristic 
of  the  Mosaic  Decalogue,  a  spontaneous,  personal  act  of  the 
Deity.  It  was  revealed  to  Israel,  it  is  the  future  organic  law  of 
any  human  society,  an  abstract  of  the  slowly  prevailing  code  of 
civilized  mankind... It  starts  with  a  higher  God-idea;  proceeds 
to  the  Sabbath,  a  higher  man-idea;  advances  to  filial  piety,  a 
higher  family-idea ;  touches  upon  the  categories  of  a  higher  State 
and  society  idea;  warning  against  the  proclivities,  the  follies, 
vices  and  crimes  human  nature  is  capable  of;  showing  their  root 
to  be :  Greed  and  covetousness,  our  so-called  Social  Question, 
the  strife  between  poor  and  rich,  expressed  so  grandly,  so  deeply 
psychologically,  in  the  Tenth  Word;  "thou  shalt  not  covet." 

iThe  dust  of  stealing.   Abak  geneiba.    (Talmud.) 


ii6  EXODUS,   MOSES   AND   THE   DECALOGUE. 

The  Ten  Commandments  form  thus  an  outline  of  a  complete 
legislation,  which  was  gradually  developed,  first  in  the  entire  five 
Books  of  Moses  and  subsequently  in  the  Talmud,  there  with 
many  changes  and  variations,  corresponding  to  the  needs  of  each 
century  and  its  environments.  From  a  bird's-eye  view,  the  same 
Ten  Words,  in  scattered  rays  and  traits,  are  to  be  detected  at  the 
bottom  of  the  other  world-Codices,  those  of  India,  Persia,  Baby- 
lonia, Greece,  Rome,  Egypt ;  and  substantially  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, the  Qoran,  the  XII  Tables  and  Hammurabi's  Stela ;  the 
Code  of  Justinian,  of  Charlemagne,  the  Gothic,  the  Teuton,  and 
the  modern  legislations,  down  to  the  Code  Napoleon,  the  English 
and  the  United  States'  Common  Law.  In  general  outline  the 
Decalogue  may  be  thus  retraced  in  nearly  each  later  Codex,  each 
with  an  alteration  bespeaking  its  plan,  time  and  environments. 
Whilst  in  its  original  purity,  we  find  it  in  the  Hebraic  text  extant. 
There  alone  its  enactments  are  universal,  humanitarian,  demo- 
cratic; without  any  bias  of  nationality,  class,  country,  time  or 
circumstances.  It  is  distinguished  from  its  previous,  contempor- 
ary or  succeeding  Codices  in  salient  points,  viz :  It  starts  from  a 
fundamental  ethical  principle,  the  God-belief,  and  makes  that 
the  pivot  of  the  entire  political  structure.  It  thus  spiritualizes 
society,  God  is  the  author  of  all,  of  universe,  country,  man  and 
law.  He  is  the  owner  of  the  sunlight,  the  farm,  the  life,  the 
daily  bread.  He  is  God,  King,  Chief  of  the  State,  dispenser  of 
justice,  protector  of  the  innocent,  avenger  of  wrong,  all  pervad- 
ing, omniscient,  omnipresent,  ordaining  all. 

The  State-law  is  God's  law,  and,  if  obeyed,  will  insure  peace, 
life  and  well-being,  a  wise  individual  and  a  happy  citizen.  The 
observance  of  the  Ten  Words  is  sufficient  for  that,  especially  as 
broadened  and  spiritualized  in  Leviticus  XIX,  analyzed  above. 
All  the  remaining  enactments  are  but  comments,  illustrations,  his- 
torical monuments,  of  symbolical  value,  timely  and  local. ^  They 
cover  all  man's  social,  ethical  and  practical  needs.  Hardly  any 
important  phase  is  left  out,  and  all  later  legislation  can  easily 
find  there  its  principle  and  be  logically  derived  therefrom,  viev/ecl 
in  the  light  of  successive,  centuries  and  circumstances.  That 
great,   fundamental,   doctrinal   principle   of   the   Decalogue,   per- 


iHillel  instructed  a  heathen:  To  worship  God  and  love  thy  next,  is 
the  essence  of  the  law,  the  rest  is  comment.  Go  and  practice!  So,  too. 
taught  Jesus,  both  following  Moses  and  the  prophets. 


MANIFOLD  STEALINGS,  ETC.  117 

vades  the  entire  later  Mosaic  and  rabbinic^  legislation.  It  is  its 
foundation-stone  and  its  culmination  point.  It  is  the  base  and 
the  final  vertex  of  the  socio-political  pyramid:  The  man,  the 
Israelite,  the  citizen,  the  parent,  the  child,  the  nation,  the  cult, 
right  and  duty.  It  is  the  powerful  cement  of  the  entire  structure. 
As  magnetism  and  electricity  permeate  the  material  world,  so 
does  the  Supreme  God-idea  pervade  and  hold  the  Jewish  socio- 
logical edifice,  from  cone  to  base.  It  thus  spiritualizes,  personi- 
fies and  vivifies  the  whole.  In  fact,  it  is  the  Soul  and  Rule  of 
the  Israelitish  State  and  Congregation.  The  "Ecclesia,  Keneseth- 
Israel,"  is  the  matron  and  God  is  the  husband.  So  they  are  aptly 
termed  by  Prophets  and  Agadites.  This  imparts  an  imposing 
aspect  of  strength  and  Unity  to  the  Mosaic  pact  and  structure. 
That,  too,  was  entailed  to  the  nations.  It  may  be  a  trait  deeply 
pervading  the  spiritual  nature  of  man.  We  find  that  feature 
strongly  reflected  in  most  of  the  later  Codes  enumerated  above. 
Though  much  weakened,  there  still  we  find  the  God-idea  referred 
to  by  most  of  legislators,  who  felt  its  powerful  hold  upon  man's 
best  instincts,  the  secret  spring  of  his  better  self. 

TEXT   AND   AGADAS    ON    IT. 

Well  considered  and  pondered  over,  the  Mosaic  Decalogue,  the 
Organic  Law  of  Juda,  is  not  Hebraic,  nor  Judaean.  Just  as  the 
God  of  Israel  is  no  national  and  no  local  God,  but  the  Lord  of  the 
universe,  of  all  spheres,  regions  and  peoples,  even  so  is  the  Ten 
Words  Code,  not  the  organic  law  of  a  certain  people  and  country, 
but  of  mankind,  of  all  peoples,  regions,  sects,  times  and  climes. 
They  contain  nothing  sectarian.  The  Talmud  assumes  that  the 
two  first  commandments  were  uttered  by  the  Deity,  direct,  to 
the  people  assembled  at  the  foot  of  Horeb,  and  that  the  other 
eight  commandments  were  delivered  to  Moses  and  repeated  by 
him  from  the  mount,  and  that  by  the  numerous  echoes,  bath-qol^ 
they  reached  the  ears  of  the  listening  myriads  below.  If  we 
look  to  the  holy  text,  we  read  (II.  M.19.25),  the  plain  words: 
"And  Moses  went  down  the  Mount  and  said  to  the  people.  .  .Then 
(II  M.  20.1,  etc.)  :  'God  spoke  all  these  words.'  "  viz :  the  whole  of 


iThe  Rabbinic  legislation  answered,  besides,  to  new  problems  and 
added  their  own  enactments  and  ceremonies  to  the  Mosaic  one;  mostly 
as  "hedges  and  enclosures,"  to  ward  off  the  constant,  fierce  attacks  of 
the  surrounding  idolatries. 


ii8  EXODUS,   MOSES   AND   THE   DECALOGUE. 

the  Ten  Words.  At  the  close  of  them  (verse  19),  the  text  re- 
peats :  "The  whole  people  saw. .  .and  said  to  Moses :  Speak  thou 
with  us  and  we  shall  listen,  and  not  God . . .  and  the  people  stood 
from  afar,  and  Moses  came  near  the  dark  cloud  wherein  God 
was."  This  is  plain.  Another  Agada  assumes  that  there  was  a 
special  divine  Voice  created  for  that  occasion,  to  carry  the  Ten 
Words  to  the  ears  of  the  listeners  below. ^  The  popular  senti- 
ment simply  assumes  that  the  voice  of  God  brought  the  Deca- 
logue within  the  hearing  of  man  and  woman,  young  and  old,  with- 
out any  further  metaphysical  quibbling.  Alluding  to  the  seven 
times  repeated  word  (Qol  and  Qoloth),  "voice  and  voices,"  in 
that  revelation,  one  teacher  finely  expounds  that  the  divine  voice 
was  split  into  seven  voices  or  undertones,^  so  as  to  reach  all  the 
myriads  standing  below ;  whilst  another  gives  the  climax  in  say- 
ing that,  the  Voice  heard  from  Mount  Sinai,  was  heard  in  seven 
undertones  and  in  seventy  tongues  ;^  viz :  The  proclamation  of 
the  Ten  Commandments  was  and  is  ever  heard  in  many  ways, 
and  in  all  the  human  languages.  Every  Israelite  and  every  indi- 
vidual of  all  the  (seventy)  nations  on  earth,  every  one's  con- 
science and  every  one's  common  sense  received  and  ever  will 
receive  and  tacitly  agree  to  them.  That  means,  the  Decalogue  is 
written  on  the  tablets  of  the  heart  of  every  sane  man  and  woman, 
as  a  general  law  and  universal  principle  of  eternal  reason  and 
ethical  equity.  It  is  the  salient  epitome  of  man's  self-evident  leg- 
islation; all  social  morality  and  wisdom  is  contained  in  this  em- 
bryo of  legislation,  aiming  at  the  formation  of  a  "kingdom  of 
priests  and  holy  nation." 

CONSIDERATIONS,  ONCE  AND  NOW. 

And  to  these  Ten  Words  Israel  answered:  "We  shall  obey. 
Whatsoever  God  has  bidden,  we  shall  perform."'*  And  that  was 
the  motto,  the  war-cry  of  the  Hebraic  people  on  his  long  and 


1  Maimonides'  Guide,  assumes  here  a  divine  Voice,  expressly  created, 
which  delivered  these  words.  The  Creator's  divine  Voice  is  also  men- 
tioned by  Gentile  mystics. 

3R.  Johanan  said:  The  voice  on  Sinai  was  heard  sevenfold  and  in 
seventy  tongues. 

411  M.,  24,  7.  The  Book  of  the  Covenant;  including  the  Decalogue 
and  the  rudiments  of  civil  and  penal  laws  of  Mosaism. 


CONSIDERATIONS,  ONCE  AND  NOW.  iig 

dreary  march,  throughout  history,  for  these  thirty-five  hundred 
years  since  Sinai,  on  a  thousand  battlefields :  "We  shall  do  and 
obey!"  Not  success  and  interest,  pleasure  or  power  or  conquest 
is  that  people's  final  aim;  No;  but  "What  God  has  spoken  we 
shall  perform."  March  on,  Israel,  no  surrender !  There  is  a 
historic  legend  narrating,  when  in  Anno  1815,  at  the  decisive 
battle  of  Waterloo,  the  French  Grand  Army  was  defeated  and 
summoned  to  surrender,  the  imperial  guard  shouted  back :  "The 
guard  dies,  but  does  not  surrender."^  Israel  the  imperial  guard 
of  monotheism  and  the  Decalogue,  has  had  many  Waterloos  in 
his  history,  and  whenever  called  upon  to  surrender  and  resign 
his  mission,  he  shouted  back :  Israel  dies,  but  does  not  surrender ! 
We  shall,  further  on,  examine  the  pages  of  history  and  there  shall 
learn  that  the  Hebraic  people  has  kept  the  promise.  They  never 
surrendered.  They  had  Waterloos,  enough,  but  the  guard  of  the 
Decalogue  never  gave  up. 

In  this,  our  present  times  of  earnest  and  ominous  signs  of 
hesitation,  backwardness  and  indifferentism,  of  danger  lurking 
without  and  within,  of  defamation  and  obloquy  on  the  part  of 
anti-Semitism,  fomented  by  priest,  mob  and  university  profess- 
ors, by  great  and  petty  nationalities  refusing  to  Israel  breathing 
space,  the  right  to  be,  earn  a  piece  of  bread  and  rear  a  Jewish 
family;  when  these  antagonists,  worse  than  the  whilom  Span- 
ish Inquisition,  aim  at  ejecting  him  from  Europe,  where  he  has 
contributed  such  a  large  share  to  its  culture  and  its  prosperity; 
when  mob  and  scholar  and  scribbler  have  the  effrontery  of  re- 
proaching him  with — his  very  virtues :  "That  he  is  too  successful 
in  the  battle  for  existence,  too  good  a  banker,  a  merchant,  a 
scientist,  an  artist,  publicist;  that  he  holds  back  from  the  hum- 
bler walks  of  human  activities ;  that  he  obviously  aspires  at  be- 
coming an  aristocracy,  keeping  up  a  state  in  the  state;"  forget- 
ting that  by  their  cruel  ostracism,  the  immense  majority  of  his  peo- 
ple live  in  the  utmost  poverty,  are  treated  as  aliens  in  the  land  of 
their  birth,  mostly  confined  like  hunted  beasts,  without  room 
for  development;  in  this  our  twentieth  century,  where  the  bitter 
struggle  for  existence  has  reached  even  the  shores  of  rich  Amer- 
ica, where  indifferentism,  materialism  and  the  care  of  the  daily 


i"La  guarde  meures  et  ne  se  rend  pas!"  This  historical  survey  was 
first  published  in  ISi'O,  in  the  Jewish  Messenger,  New  York.  It  has 
since  been  repeatedlj  republished,  with  and  without  the  writer's  name. 


120  EXODUS,   MOSES  AND   THE   DECALOGUE. 

subsistence  absorb  all  the  energies  and  efforts,  and  where  man 
thinks  so  little  of  all  religious,  ethical  and  mental  concerns ;  at 
such  an  epoch  of  complicated  and  entangling  racial,  political,  re- 
ligious, social  and  economical  phenomena,  it  is  highly  opportune 
to  bring  before  the  mind  of  thinking  people,  the  glorious  epochs 
of  the  past,  of  great  moral  and  mental  upheavals,  as  that  of  the 
Exodus,  Sinai,  the  Decalogue,  Monotheism;  the  struggles  and 
the  triumphs  of  by-gone  centuries;  that  the  present  generation 
may  discern  what  other  more  formidable  Pharaohs  and  Hamans, 
hates  and  prejudices  their  ancestors  had  to  contend  with,  what 
"hard  times"  they  had  to  confront,  and  that  they  passed  all  these 
ordeals  and  happily  vanquished  them  by  character,  conviction, 
patience  and  perseverance,  the  indomitable  will-power  "to  do 
what  God  has  bidden." 

Further  on  we  shall  amply  quote  from  history  in  support  of 
this,  showing  that  Israel  is  not  an  aristocracy  by  war,  conquest, 
or  finance,  but  one  of  mind,  labor  and  sacrifice ;  that  he  does 
represent  the  "kingdom  of  priests  and  holy  nation,"  as  the  official 
teacher  of  Monotheism  and  the  expounder  of  the  Ten  Command- 
ments, that  this  is  his  diploma  of  nobility;  that  his  object  is  not 
self-aggrandizement,  but  the  advance  of  mankind  whose  van- 
guard and  champion  he  is ;  that  his  efforts  and  labors  are  to  make 
mankind  the  "kingdom  of  priests  and  holy  nation,"  to  have  all 
mythology  step  back,  give  honor  to  the  owner  of  heaven  and 
earth;  merge  all  aristocracies  in  that  of  civilized  mankind,  and 
all  privileges  in  that  of  human  rights  and  universal  justice. 

American  Israel,  gather  around  your  standard,  look  up  to 
Sinai,  to  its  great  revelation,  to  the  Decalogue,  to  this  platform 
of  an  Israel-mankind,  the  prophetic  ideal.  Do  not  split  upon 
the  dangerous  rock  of  orthodoxy  or  reform.  Cling  to  the 
essence  of  Judaism,  that  will  lead  you  safely  to  the  land  of 
promise.  Cling  with  heart,  brain  and  hand  to  that  platform. 
Reason,  science  and  plain,  common  sense  coincide  with  it,  and 
mankind  will  finally  accept  it.  In  the  meantime,  when  called 
upon  to  merge  with  the  majority,  answer:  We  are  happy, 
socially  and  politically  to  be  part  of  the  great  western  civiliza- 
tion, and  of  the  American  people ;  both  of  which  we  have  helped 
making;  but  as  Israelites  we  cling  to  the  doctrines  of  the  One  God 
in  Spirit,  to  the  Ten  Words,  and  to  the  historical  motto  of  our  flag ; 
"Whatever  the  Eternal  has  spoken  we  shall  perform."  This  our 
platform  we  shall  surrender  only  to  mankind  when  accepting  it 
fully,  entirely  and  plainly. 


Study  /F.— THE  ONE  GOD  OF  THE  DECALOGUE. 
Theme:    I  am  Ihvh,  thy  God.     Exod.,  xx,  1-2. 

Having  had  a  succinct  survey  of  the  tenor  of  the  Decalogue, 
let  us  now  analyze  its  single  leading  features.  The  import 
of  its  opening  verses,  H  M.,  xx,  2,  is  adequately  set  forth  by  the 
following  pointed  remark  of  the  Rabbis:  The  Thora,  the 
Mosaic  Law,  does  not  begin  with  (I  M.,  i,  1)  :  In  the  begin- 
ning God  created ;  no,  that  is  metaphysics ;  nor  with  the  his- 
tory of  Abraham,  that  is  tradition  and  genealogy;  nor  with 
Exodus,  that,  too,  is  tradition.  The  Thora,  really  commences 
with  n  M.,  XX,  2 :  "I  am  Ihvh,  thy  God,  who  has  brought  thee 
out  of  the  land  of  Egypt."  That  is  Thora,  Israel's  great  doc- 
trine !  Indeed,  what  is  the  Bible's  historic  message  to  Jew  and 
Gentile  :  "I  am  the  Eternal,  thy  God ;"  God  exists,  God  is  Ihvh, 
the  Supreme  Being,  the  Absolute,  the  Reality  of  existence,  the 
Spiritual  Substance,  the  Supreme  Cause,  the  Source  of  all  In- 
telligence, the  Creative  Power,  Mind.  The  universe  is  not 
the  result  of  chance,  brute  force  and  inert  matter ;  and  human 
history  is  not  ruled  by  force,  cunning  and  over-reaching.  No, 
both  man  and  the  v/orld  are  guided  and  superintended  by  God, 
the  Supreme  Mind,  all-wise,  all-powerful,  all-pervading,  all- 
just,  providing  for  all. 

But  did  not  the  heathens,  too,  teach  that  Deity  exists  and 
rules?  Yes;  the  heathens  taught  the  existence  and  the  rule  of 
— ten  thousand  genii,  or  gods,  and  ten  thousand  principles, 
genii,  or  gods  are  tantamount  to  none,  that  is  chaos.  That 
means  mere  chance  and  cannot  be  the  lule  of  conduct,  neither 
in  the  universe  nor  in  man's  world. 

Again,  the  heathen  gods  were  simply  forces,  agents;  now, 
ten  thousand  forces,  ever  in  conflict,  meant  war,  the  eternal 
clashing  of  heterogenous  volitions,  interests.  Just  so  the 
gods  are  depicted  by  Homer,  Hesiod,  the  Hindu,  Baby- 
lonian, Egyptian  and  Assyrian  Cosmogonies,  the  Edda,  the 
Niebelungen  poems  and  mythologies.  They  all  depict  the 
ever  warring  forces  of  nature  and  of  men.  Hence  there  con- 
tinued in  the  human  world,  as  in  the  universe,  war,  brute 
force,  over-reaching,  barbarism;  no  room  for  justice,  sympa- 
thy, peace.     Mosaism  teaches:    One  God,  all-holy,^   supreme 


nns*  n-iin  ,mn^  "jx  t^np  '2  -  nnx  mn^ 


122  EXODUS,   MOSES   AND  THE   DECALOGUE. 

Law,  harmony,  intelligence  and  fitness,  pervading  the  uni- 
verse, subordinating  all  to  His  all-guiding  will,  design  and 
Providence  everwhere.  And  that  suggests  harmony,  justice, 
beneficence  and  peace  among  men;  That  makes  room  for  civi- 
lization. So  the  solemn  closing  meditation  of  the  daily 
prayer:  "He  who  makes  peace  in  the  universal  space — He 
will  grant  peace  to  us  all.^     (Adoration  prayer). 

Is  God  the  reaHty  of  the  universe,  or  the  ideal  of  man? 
There  are  doubters  and  scoffers  and  downright  atheists. 
When  we  inquire  at  materialism,  at  the  mari-cet,  the  five 
senses,  the  surgeon's  knife,  we  meet  with  no  God  or  soul. 
But  when  we  inquire  of  our  conscience,  our  innermost  con- 
sciousness, our  common  sense,  of  the  moral  sciences,  and  of 
the  large  majority  of  leading  thinkers,  they  coincide  with  the 
Bible:  'T  am  the  Eternal  thy  God."  La  Mettrie,  and  De  Hol- 
bach  assumed  :  Man  is  a  machine,^  and  the  universe,  too.  But 
Voltaire  remarked :  'Tf  there  were  no  God,  we  would  have 
to  invent  him.^  J.  J.  Rousseau  and  Diderot  decidedly  believed 
in  the  Divine  Existence.  Frederick  H  of  Prussia  yet  doubted. 
Schiller  alludes  "to  the  cunningly  devised  Savior  of  the  sickly 
world  scheme,  which  human  wit  contrived  for  human  needs.'*" 
Herbert  Spencer^  bows  his  head  in  reverence  before  the  God- 
idea.  He  dares  not  say  what  God  is,  but  he  absolutely  afiirms 
that  God  is.  The  Divine  Existence  is  assumed  as  self-evident, 
as  the  unknowable  Reality  behind  changeable,  evanescent 
nature,  as  the  spiritual  Essence  of  the  material  universe,  as  the 
sacred  Source  of  mind  and  energy,  the  universal  Soul  and  the 
Supreme  Cause.  Socrates,  Plato  and  Aristotle,  Pythagoras  and 
Plotin,  fully  believed  in  the  existence  of  God.  The  Hindu  Brah- 
manic  thinkers,  the  Qabbalistic  philosophers,  Gabirol  and 
Maimonides,   far   from   orthodox   in   their   rationalism,   thor- 


aL'homme  machine,  a  famous  book,  of  the  18th  century. 
3S'il  n'y  avaict  pas  de  Dieu,  il  faudrait  I'inventer. 
4Des  kranken  Weltplans  schlau  erdachte  Retter  den  Menschenwitz  der 
Menschen  Notdurft  leihet. 
5His  first  principles,  page  13. 


THE  ONE  GOD  OF  THE  DECALOGUE.  123 

oughly  and  fully  accept  and  teach  the  faith  in  the  divine  Being 
as  self-evident.  And  even  so  Spinoza,  the  much  misunder- 
stood and  decried  Hebrao-Hollandish  philosopher,  believes  in 
God  as  the  only  reality  in  the  universe,  the  universe  as  ephe- 
meral, a  wavelet  on  the  ocean-surface.  God  alone  is  eternal 
and  real.  In  our  own  times  the  bitter  struggle  for  existence 
has  made  much  havoc  in  that  greatest  conception  of  civilized 
man.  Nevertheless,  in  their  sober  moods,  the  doubting 
masses  instinctively  shrink  from  atheistic  assumptions.  They 
feel,  as  Heine  pointedly  says :  "Doubting  the  existence  of 
God,  makes  me  feel  as  if  in  a  lunatic  asylum,  just  having  lost 
my  guide."  The  large  majority  of  the  thinkers  and  of  the 
sober,  sane  masses,  assume,  with  the  Bible,  God  to  be  self- 
evident,  reflected  from  the  outward  facts  into  our  mind,  in  the 
universe  and  in  human  history.  We  feel  the  accuracy  of  this 
(V  M.  iv:12,  19)  pregnant  passage  concerning  our  theme: 
"Ye  approached  the  Mount  Horeb  in  a  blaze  of  fire  .  .  .  whence 
God  spake  to  you.  .  .A  speaking  voice  you  heard,  but  you  saw 
no  similitude.  And  He  promulgated  unto  you  His  convenant.  . . 
the  Ten  Words. .  .Beware  and  take  heed,  ye  saw  no  similitude 
when  God  spoke  to  you  on  Horeb... lest  ye  corrupt  your- 
selves and  shape  unto  you  any  image,  figure  or  likeness,  of 
anything  in  earth,  air  or  water,  or  even  the  hosts  of  heaven 
worshipped  by  the  nations..  .  .The  Lord  has  redeemed  you 
from  Egypt,  that  iron  furnace,  to  be  unto  him  his  own  people 
and  inheritance."  This  passage  sets  fully  forth  the  Mosaic 
God-idea,  his  Unity,  incorporeality,  spirituality. 

DIVINE  EXISTENCE.    COMMON  SENSE  PROOF  OF. 

Of  the  many  testimonies  to  the  existence  of  God,  let  us  first 
look  at  the  common  sense  one ;  that  being  the  most  undubit- 
able,  salient,  convincing,  and  easily  accessible  one  to  the  aver- 
age Biblical  reader:  Here  I  hold  a  piece  of  paper,  a  tiny,  hum- 
ble trifle,  of  small  utility  and  no  mercantile  value;  neverthe- 
less you  will  at  once  accede,  that  it  has  a  cause,  a  maker,  it 
did  not  come  into  existence  by  mere  chance,  or  by  self-crea- 
tion, but  that  somebody  must  have  made  it.  Now  here  this 
house,  this  city,  this  country,  this  continent,  this  globe,  this 
solar  system  in  boundless  space,  with  its  fixed  stars,  each  a 
world  of  its  own — all  that  is  the  creation  of  hazard,  says  ma- 


124  EXODUS,   MOSES  AND   THE   DECALOGUE. 

terialism !  Is  that  not  unreasonable  ?  Again  see :  This  same, 
small,  humble  leaf  of  paper,  bears  some  black  marks,  charac- 
ters, symbols,  letters,  making  out  words  and  ideas,  conveying 
to  you  and  me,  some  logical  thoughts,  apparently  entertain- 
ed by  some  one  who  wrote  down  these  lines?  .  .  Or  would  you 
rather  assume  that  these  characters,  signifying  solid  ideas,  are 
the  effect  of  blind  accident,  mere  chance?  Would  you  assume 
that  an  inkstand  v/as  turned  over  this  blank  leaf  and  by  mere 
hazard  it  produced — signs,  letters,  vv'ords,  rational  ideas? 
Would  not  such  an  assumption  be  most  irrational?  Seeing 
here  lines  of  characters  spread  out  in  ink  as  symbols  of  logical 
sentences,  you  are  logically  constrained  to  assume,  as  self- 
evident,  that  here,  being  design,  there  must  be  here  a  de- 
signer ?  being  effect,  there  must  be  an  adequate  cause,  viz :  a 
being  with  reason  and  will,  which  intently  made  these  con- 
ventional marks,  in  order  to  impart  to  you  what  he  thought? 
Now  look,  materialism  denies  this  plain  argument.  It  as- 
sumes that  ink  turned  over  and  by  mere  chance,  turned  into 
logical  ideas !  Nay,  more :  Materialism  claims  that  this  uni- 
verse, with  its  millions  of  worlds,  with  their  eternally  fixed 
laws,  their  grandeur,  beauty,  fitness,  and  wonderful  design, 
this  infinity  of  means  converging  towards  one  object,  one 
illimitable  harmony,  all  that  came  into  existence  without  a  de- 
signer, by  mere,  blind  accident !  Consider :  this  small  written 
leaflet  must  have  an  intentional,  rational  maker,  but  this  v/on- 
derful,  boundless  universe  sprang  into  existence  by  accident? 
all  these  grand  means  for  their  sublime  end — are  chance? 
Everything  has  its  maker,  every  effect  presupposes  its  cor- 
responding cause,  the  universe  alone  has  no  maker  and  no  Cause  ? 
Here  alone,  this  marvellous  design  has  no  designer? 

DESIGN  IN  NATURE. 

Wherever  you  look,  you  find  design,  from  the  blade  of  grass 
to  the  solar  system ;  and  Science  discovers  daily  more  and 
more  wonderful  design,  adaptation  of  means  to  ends.  Must 
this  not  make  the  Great  Designer  self-evident?  "Behold  the 
lilies  of  the  field  more  gorgeously  dressed  than  Solomon  in  all 
his  glory,"  Contemplate  this  blade  of  grass,  this  stalk  of  corn, 
with  the  tiny  organs  of  nutrition,  secretion,  growth,  develop- 
ment, propagation ;  or  examine  the  human  hand :  what  a  fine 


DESIGN    IN    NATURE.  125 

tool  for  action  and  work,  for  defense  and  ofifense,  to  attract 
and  repel,  to  hold,  take  and  execute  whatever  your  desire 
dictates,  a  house,  a  picture,  a  poem,  a  book,  a  hit,  a  caress. 
Consider  the  ear,  its  external  and  internal  parts,  to  receive  the 
finest  shades  of  sound,  to  recognize  among  a  hundred  voices 
that  of  a  friend,  a  foe,  a  stranger,  if  of  joy  or  of  distress.  Look 
to  the  eye,  a  compound  of  mirrors,  wonderfully  reflecting  the 
world  in  miniature  pictures,  with  an  exact  estimate  of  their 
real  dimensions  and  proportions.  Guess  at  the  brain,  a  mass 
of  nerves  producing  sensations  and  thoughts,  out  of  the 
rough  material  brought  in  by  the  senses,  with  the  aid  of  some 
mysterious  higher  sense,  reason  or  mind — just  as  the  piano 
produces  the  music  latently  alive  in  the  pianist.  That  mys- 
terious, wonderful  function  of  the  brain  develops  or  distills 
rational  ideas  out  of  crude  sensuous  perceptions,  constructs 
new  ideas,  concepts  and  conclusions,  one  on  the  top  of  the 
other.  It  v/eighs  and  measures  and  counts  the  globe,  planets, 
sun  and  fixed  stars,  embraces  the  universe  and  fathoms  the 
Creator's  thoughts  and  objects.  Analyze  this  water  drop  by 
the  help  of  a  microscope,  and  see  its  millionsi  of  infusoria 
struggling  for  existence,  just  as  we,  men  on  earth  do,  busily 
running  and  fighting,  triumphing  and  failing — a  world  in  a 
waterdrop !  Now  leave  the  microscope,  take  up  the  telescope, 
and  examine  the  vast  expanse  of  heaven,  or  the  boundless 
space  of  the  Milky  Way,  with  its  myriads  of  stars,  fixed  stars, 
dependent  planets,  trabants,  rings,  trains,  all  converging  in 
prescribed  orbits,  v/orld-wide  apart,  requiring  aeons  of  years 
to  reach  one  another,  scattered  as  our  flowers,  in  the  boundless 
universal  space;  each  fixed  star  a  complete  world,  with  its 
own  solar  system,  its  eternal  fixed  laws,  each  world  a  har- 
monious part  of  the  totality  of  the  universe ;  the  molecule,  the 
planet,  the  sun,  well  fitting  in  the  whole.  As  the  microscope 
shows  us  a  world  in  a  drop  of  water,  even  so  the  telescope 
points  to  the  infinity  of  Vv'orlds  in  the  boundless  firmament  of 
the  universe.  See  yonder  shining  speck  in  the  blue  sky;  it  is 
a  fixed  star,  as  vast  as  our  own  Sun-globe  with  all  its  planets 
and  trabants.  This  ray  of  light  you  now  meet,  has  been 
a  million  of  years  on  its  journey  to  reach  your  eye!  Ponder 
over  this  universe  with  its  myriads  of  worlds,  all  following 
up  one  plan,  one  grand  scheme,  one  primordial  design,  cal- 


126  EXODUS,   MOSES   AND   THE   DECALOGUE. 

culated  to  meet  one,  to  us,  unknowable  object, ^  the  order,  the 
harmony,  the  collusion  and  the  correspondence  of  all  as  one 
grand  totality,  making  up  together  the  Universe,  nature,  ex- 
istence, the  final  object  of  that  one-world  scheme.  Contem- 
plate here  what  a  plan,  what  a  grand  design,  what  divine 
harmony,  what  exact  order,  what  sublime  beauty !  Here  is 
nowhere  any  friction,  any  break,  wrangling,  pulling,  pinching, 
squeezing  of  star  or  planet  or  molecule;  no  struggle  for  exist- 
ence among  these  huge  heavenly  bodies ;  no  encroaching  upon 
the  neighbor,  no  grasping  and  hoarding  for  self  and  starving 
of  others,  as  with  men.  No,  all  is  peace,  order,  amity,  har- 
mony. There  is  room,  light,  life,  space  and  provision  for  all ; 
for  this  fly,  that  atom  of  dust,  and  yonder  Solar  System. 

Does  this  not  prove  design,  divine  Providence,  Providential 
Wisdom?  Can  we  doubt  Supreme  Intelligence?  When  such  an 
infinity  of  means  corresponds  to  such  an  infinite  object,  does  that 
not  prove  design?  Now,  when  there  is  design  in  the  universe, 
in  nature,  must  there  not  be  a  Designer?  When  we  see  such 
a  mighty  effect,  nature ;  must  there  not  be  its  adequate  Cause, 
God?  Closely  contemplate  nature,  open  its  folios  and  read: 
what  is  there  ineffaceably  engraved  ? :  "I  am  the  Eternal,  thy 
God."  God  is  the  All-Power,  the  All-Intelligence,  the  All- 
Benignity,  the  All-Holiness ;  the  Cause,  Creator,  Designer  and 
Providence  of  nature.  Nature  is  his  visible  embodiment ;  its 
every  page,  all  proclaim  :    God  is  ! 

SCIENCE  ON  THE  GOD-CONCEPTION. 

Positive  Science  declares  the  God-idea  as  beyond  and  above  its 
sphere.  Exact  Science  deals  with  experiences  and  their  con- 
clusions. It  discusses  the  data  of  our  five  senses ;  God  is  beyond 
and  above  the  senses,  hence  is  he  not  to  be  reached  by  science. 
Therefore  it  can  neither  prove  nor  disprove ;  nor  define,  nor 
analyze  the  God-being;   still   we  shall  see,   it  bows   its   head   in 


(Maimonides,  Guide  III,  part  13.)— The  object  and  final  aim  of  the 
universe,  Aristotle  and  Maimonides  agree,  is  beyond  the  Icen  of  man, 
each  part  is  a  necessary  link,  but  the  workings  of  all  is  beyond  human 
intellect.  The  Divine  Will  is  the  final  Cause,  the  eternal  fitness,  and 
this  may  be  the  real  sense  of  the  hoary  "fatum,"  anagnke,  necessity. 


SCIENCE  ON  THE  GOD-CONCEPTION.  127 

reverence  for  that  idea,  that  necessary  and  universal  human  as- 
sumption; since  the  universe  exists,  man  believed  that  God,  its 
Maker,  must  exist,  and  this  he  assumed  as  self  evident.  Only 
ignorance  and  presumption  are  atheistic.  ^ 

Positive  science  deals  with  matter  and  force.  Our  experiences 
thereof  come  in  by  the  avenues  of  the  five  senses.  Hence  is  the 
God-existence  out  of  their  reach.  But  moral  science  justly 
guesses  the  first  Cause  and  the  final  Cause,  the  Reality  behind 
the  oscillating,  fluctuating  appearance,  the  Eternal  Essence  of  the 
ephemeral,  changeable  and  decaying  infinity  of  bodies.  That 
Essence  it  cannot  define,  but  calls  it  Spirit,  Mind,  Universal  Soul. 
Thus  physical  science  denies  not,  and  moral  science  affirms  that 
God  is ! 

But  when  asked  :  What  is  God  ?  What  is  the  plain  definition  ? 
Man  cannot  answer;  and  just  so  the  Bible,  *T  am  thy  God;"  still 
it  is  emphasized :  "You  saw  no  similitude  on  Horeb." — "No  man 
saw  Me  and  lives." — "Thou  wilt  see  My  back,  but  My  face  is 
not  visible."  We  know  that  God  is,  we  know  not  what  God  is. 
We  cannot  raise  the  veil  of  nature,  nor  look  behind  its  abyssmal 
screen.  How  could  we?  Man,  an  atom,  cannot  embrace  God, 
the  All ;  a  body,  he  cannot  define  mind ;  a  creature,  he  cannot 
explore  the  Creator.  Will  you  ask  the  watch  to  explain  the 
watchmaker?  or  ask  the  water-drop  to  fathom  the  ocean?  Nev- 
ertheless the  watch  proves  the  watchmaker,  and  the  drop  points 
to  the  ocean.  Even  so,  since  man  is,  God  must  be,  too.  Man 
knows  little  of  matter  and  less  of  mind.  The  ancient  sages 
forbade  to  speculate  on  metaphysics^  as  barren  and  misleading. 
But  Bible  and  Talmud,  moraHsts  and  rational  men,  all  coincide 
in  the  existence  of  the  Supreme  Mind-Power.  Any  trial  at  defi- 
nition leads  to  superstition  and  idolatry.  The  Jewish  philoso- 
phers, from  the  Talmud  and  Qabbala  to  Maimonides,  declined 
all  attributes,  all  names,  all  descriptions  and  attempts  at  the 
definition  of  the  Deity.  Even  so  do  Emanuel  Kant,  Herbert  Spen- 
cer, Tindall,  Alexander  Von  Humboldt,  Darwin,  decline  any  and 
all  attributes  of  Deity,  any  vulgar  definition,  any  official  theology. 
Still  they  all  acquiesce  and  coincide  in  this ;  that  behind  the 
screen  of  nature  there  abides  the  mysterious,  yea,  unknowable 
Lord    of    nature.      Kant    as    Herbert  Spencer    show    at    great 


1  The  fool  thinks,  there  is  no  God.     Psalms  xiv,   i. 

2Speculate  not  in  public  on  divinity  and  on  creation. — Hagiga,  2b. 


128  EXODUS,   MOSES   AND   THE   DECALOGUE. 

length  that  nothing  metaphysical  is  in  the  sphere  of  exact  knowl- 
edge; that  atheism,  pantheism  and  theism  are  equally  transcen- 
dental, all  being  beyond  our  senses.  (Herbert  Spencer:  Pure 
Reason,  First  Principles,  p.  36).  They  assent  to  the  logical 
category  of  a  Supreme  Cause;  but  how,  and  what?  That  is  un- 
knowable.. .And  just  so  the  Bible:  "I  am  thy  God..  .Thou  canst 
see  My  back,  not  My  face.  .  .You  can  see  nature,  not  the  First 
Cause  of  nature,  nor  know  its  final  aim,  "for  God's  thoughts  are 
not  man's  thoughts."^ 

THE  BIBLICAL  DIVINE  NAMES. 

What  is  the  meaning  of  Elohim,  Ihvh,  Shaddai,  Adonai,  lah, 
Hanun,  El-Elyon,  Ahad,^  etc.,  in  the  S.  Script,  and  Talmud 
attributed  to  the  Deity?  The  Bible,  seemingly,  offers  them  as 
names,  appellatives,  designations  of  the  One  Supreme  Being. 
But  they  are  expounded  by  the  rabbis  as  not  being  names,  nor 
even  positive  attributes,  for  that  would  be  limitations  or  addi- 
tions to  the  Only  One,  but  as  mere  negative  attributes ;  they 
show  what  God  is  not,  thus  discarding  all  misunderstandings; 
they  teach  that  He  alone  is  God,  the  All-Power,  the  Supreme 
Being,  the  Cause,  the  Providence  and  Protector,  the  Master,  the 
Benign,  the  Highest,  the  Only  One.  They  are  all  negative  attri- 
butes, they  mean  that  the  God  of  the  Bible  admits  of  no  plurality, 
that  the  heathen  gods  or  forces  are  all  absorbed  in  Him,  He  being 
the  All-Power,  He  the  Essence  of  Being,  the  Creator  of  all,  with- 
out any  differentiation  or  limitation.  He  is  the  universal  Provi- 
dence, not  as  the  national  or  local  gods  of  heathendom;  He  is 
the  Merciful,  the  Highest  and  the  Only  One,  i.  e.,  unequaled, 
immutable  and  incomparable.  The  rabbis  again  designate  Him 
as  the  Place,  Maqom,  of  the  universe,  as  the  Heavens,  or  as  the 
Infinite  Space,  Zrvana  Akarana.^  They  are  careful  even  with 
these  negative  attributes.  They  declare  even  these  Biblical  des- 
ignations to  be  but  lower,  emanated  degrees  of  the  Deity,  so  to 
say  His  manifestations,  as  He  appears  to  Man's  limited  intelli- 


ris.  55,6)  "n  D{<J  DDTinti'nc  TinrnQ  s^  ^31 


3The  Persian  designation  of  Eternity,  of  Space  and  of  Time. 


THE   BIBLICAL   DIVINE   NAMES.  129- 

gence,  as  revealed  in  the  world.  As  such  they  are  assumed  by 
the  Talmud,  Agadas,  Maimonides.^  The  Qabbalists  call  that 
the  Ten  Sephiroth,  the  emanated  divine  rays  of  the  Supreme.  He 
is  boundless,  unqualified,  undifferentiated,  Eternal  Existence,  He 
is  the  breath,  Hfe,  Intellectus  Activus  and  light  of  all  the  beings ; 
but  He  is  and  ever  will  remain  unknowable,  enveloped  in  impen- 
etrable mystery  for  man.  They  call  him  the  Infinite,  Ain-Soph, 
the  Mystery  of  Mysteries,^  and  allude  to  these  Biblical  nam.es  as 
also  to  their  own  philosophical  designations,  as  emanations  and 
subordinate  divine  agents,  simply  as  phases  and  rays  of  the  Deity 
personified  by  human  short-sightedness ;  if  you  will,  as  philo- 
sophical nomenclatures. 

Concerning  anthropomiorphism,  degenerating  in  heathendom 
to  downright  idol-worship,  we  find  that  the  Decalogue  ordains: 
"Ye  shall  have  no  other  gods  in  My  presence."  God,  omni- 
present and  omniscient,  all  supporting  and  all  pervading,  ex- 
cludes the  possibility  of  any  other  independent  divinity.  "Thou 
shalt  not  make  unto  thee  any  graven  image  or  any  likeness,  in 
stone,  ore  or  colors.  As  men  were  eager  to  grasp  the  Deity  with 
their  senses,  so  the  accommodating  priests  declared  Him  to  be 
the  ancestor,  the  king,  hero  or  victor;  the  eagle,  crocodile,  the 
Apis-bull,  or  the  star.  So  man  attempted  to  fix  his  own  puerile 
God-concept,  purely  anthropomorphic,  into  maible  or  color. 
Hence  Mosaism,  deprecating  any  false  theology  and  inaccurate 
definitions,  forbade  all  material  representations  and  incarnations,, 
as  misleading  and  conducive  to  idolatry. 

GOD  AND   CREATION. 

As  we  cannot  tell  what  God  is,  even  so  can  we  not  say  how 
He  made  the  universe:  God  and  creation,  both  are  beyond  our 
ken.  Mosaism  is  silent  on  this.  Genesis  simply  affirms :  "God 
said,  'Let  there  be,'  and  it  was."  The  philosophers  guess  crea- 
tion came  on  by  divine  thought,  the  Verb,  or  emanation,  viz. : 
that  the  Deity  irradiated  the  universe.  Mind  bore  matter,  just 
as  the  sun  streams  forth  its  light-rays.  Such  divine  rays  con- 
densed, hardened,  and  dimm.ed  the  light  until  it  became  body! 
Scientifically    we    can     say    and    prove    nothing.       Emanation 


iMaimonides,  Yad  IMada  and  Guide.     Such  are  the  Talmudic  an  thro- 
pomorphistical  allegories. 


130  EXODUS,   MOSES   AND   THE   DECALOGUE. 

is  just  as  unintelligible  to  our  human  reason  and  our  experi- 
iences  as  is  creation,  miraculously  making  something  out  of  noth- 
ing. As  little  can  we  explain  in  what  mode  inert  matter  evolves 
life,  or  how  the  brain  ganglia  produce  thought,  how  spirit  unites 
with  the  body  and  induces  mental  and  moral  activities.  We  see 
in  man  matter  united  to  mind,  but  how  this  is  effected,  we  know 
not.  Genesis,  1 :2,  answers :  "By  the  will  or  word  of  God."  The 
same  say  Gabirol,  Maimonides,  Qabbala,  the  Talmud.  Male- 
branche  and  Geulinx  say :  "As  an  artist  watch-maker  will  manu- 
facture two  clocks  so  exactly  identical  that,  without  any  con- 
nection and  without  any  reciprocal  influence,  they  will  go  exactly 
alike  and  ever  point  to  exactly  the  same  time,  even  such  is  the 
harmony  between  body  and  mind.  They  call  that  occasionalism. 
That  is  ingenious,  but  the  Biblical  mode  is  less  pretentious  and 
more  to  the  point.  It  does  not  claim  to  pry  into  the  divine  labo- 
ratory of  creation;  it  teaches  us  what  is  useful  and  leaves  alone 
what  is  to  us  unknowable.  Jewish  philosophers  generally  imi- 
tate that  discretion.  God  is  infinite  spirit,  wisdom,  power,  good- 
ness, holiness,  perfection.  He  has  no  shape,  or  name  and  unites 
his  infinite  attributes  in  a  perfect  unity.  That  Supreme  Mind 
created,  emanated  or  brought  forth  matter,  the  bodily  universe, 
in  a  way  not  intelligible  to  us.  Buchner,  Huxley,  Hakel,  as  once 
La  Mettrie  and  De  Holbach,  say:  "There  is  no  mind,  there  is 
but  matter  and  force." — Does  this  better  explain  than  the  Bibli- 
cal modus?  Is  the  materialistic  dogmatism  more  lucid?  The 
exaggerating  followers  of  Darwin's  evolution  theory,  believe  that 
the  matter,  impinged  and  actuated  by  its  ever  inherent  force, 
evolved  the  universe,  i.  e.,  that  matter  developed  mind,  brain  se- 
creted thought!  That  is  tantamount  to  the  claim  that,  ink  spilt 
upon  paper,  will  create  an  intelligent  book !  The  Biblical,  wise 
discretion  answers  best :  God  created  the  universe,  mind  evolved 
matter.  God,  the  Supreme  Cause,  the  Intellectus  Activus,  Good- 
ness and  Perfection,  made  the  universe  wise,  good,  befitting. 

CAUSE  OF  EVIL.    R.  AQIBA  AND  VEDANTA. 

But  why  is  man's  own  world,  his  own  history,  so  stupid,  so 
hap-hazard?  Why  is  there  disorder,  malice,  hate,  tears  and  dis- 
appointment? Why  wrong,  folly  and  vice?  Already  in  Job  is 
this  problem  discussed :  What  is  the  cause  of  evil  in  this  human, 
nether  world?    Why  is  the  serenity,  order,  peace  and  happiness, 


CAUSE  OF  EVIL.       R.  AQIBA  AND  VEDANTA.  131 

the  undisturbed  harmony  in  the  physical  universe,  so  much 
missed  in  this  narrow,  terrestrial,  human  world?  So,  too,  asked 
the  prophets:  "Thou,  the  pure-eyed  One,  who  refusest  to  see 
evil,  why  dost  thou  look  at  the  wrong-doers?  Why  art  thou 
silent  when  the  wicked  oppresses  him  far  better  than  himself? 
So,  too,  speculated  the  rabbis :  Here  is  a  righteous  man  un- 
happy, and  here  a  wicked  one  happy  ?^  The  Talmudists  offer  a 
hint  to  the  solution :  Evil  comes  not  from  God,  but  from  the 
imperfections  of  man.  "A  fully  and  really  good  man  will  ever 
be  happy,  but  when  only  half  good,  only  apparently  good,  he  will 
not.  Human  history  is,  in  part,  shaped  by  human  hands.  Man 
is  happy  or  not,  just  as  himself  and  his  neighbors  make  him.^ 
It  is  human  selfishness  and  stupidity,  ambition,  jealousy,  invid- 
iousness  and  greed,  his  vicious  passions  all,  which  cause  man's 
ills.  It  is  thus  just  man's  freedom  of  will  which,  when  abused, 
turns  to  man's  misfortunes,  of  himself  and  his  neighbors.  Ev- 
erything in  nature  is  subject  to  rule,  to  inexorable  law,  and  this 
law,  impregnated  with  divine  wisdom  and  benignity,  tends  to  the 
welfare  of  all.  Human  selfishness,  shortsightedness  and  ill- 
directed  passions  retain  a  certain  share,  a  margin  of  autonomy. 
This  margin  man  often  abuses  and  this  abuse  is  the  cause  of  his 
own  and  his  fellow-men's  Evil;  it  induces  envy,  vice,  crime  and 
disappointment,  failure,  pain  and  tears. 

R.  Aquiba  formulated  this  in  a  fine  scriptural  interpretation. 
(Genesis,  III,  22.)^  "Behold,  man  is  as  one  of  us  to  know  good 
and  evil."  That  strange-sounding  verse  means,  he  boldly  ex- 
plains: "Behold,  man  is,  out  of  entire  nature,  the  only  one  ex- 
ception to  choose  by  himself,  between  good  and  evil,  he  is  the 
only  creature  endowed  with  free  will.  Hinc  lacrimae !  hence  his 
troubles;  he  is  free  to  choose,  and  is  not  ever  wise  to  make  the 
best  choice;  hence,  vice,  tears  and  mishap  in  the  human  world, 
a  sphere  mostly  created  by  himself,  his  good  and  wicked  instincts ; 
while  in  the  vast  universe  there  is  supreme,  inexorable  law,  the 
effulgence  of   Supreme  Wisdom,   and  this   does  not  allow  the 


(Berachoth)  yna  niK"iD  D^ry  lints   ^ 
pnv  J3  pnv  ...11D3  irxB'  p^nv  ...-110:  pnv  ...?yK'-i  y^32  K'nnn  no^ 

2Maimonide8,  Guide,  part  III,  answers  in  the  same  way.    See  there. 
Chapters  12-15. 

yii  310  13DD  nyib  nnx  Kin  ninn  » 


132  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE, 

wrong-  to  prevail  and  the  just  to  be  oppressed.  Something-  akin 
and  further  developed  we  find  in  the  Hindu  Vedanta  philosophy  r^ 
Evil  comes  into  the  world,  not  by  God's  oversight  or  shortcom- 
ings, no,  by  man's ;  but  this  comes  not  by  his  own,  individual, 
personal  sinfulness,  but  by  his  own  and  that  of  his  fellows  and 
surroundings :  The  shortcomings  of  his  fellow-men  and  his 
fellow-creatures  and  from  all  eternity.  The  viciousness  and  fail- 
ings of  all  of  them  are  entailed  and  weigh  upon  him,  crush  him 
and  make  him  suffer;  and  from  such  a  load  he  can  be  redeemed 
but  gradually,  by  the  improvement  of  all  his  fellow-creation." 
This  is  the  far-reaching  Hindu  doctrine  of  universal  solidarity, 
transcending  our  theme  proper,  but  of  the  highest  interest  for 
thinking  readers.  The  failures,  vices  and  tears  of  man  are  derived 
not  only  from  himself,  but  mostly  from  his  being  heir  to  all  the 
shortcomings  entailed  from  his  ancestors,  fellow-men,  fellow- 
creatures,  fellow-creation,  since  all  eternity.  Only  then  may  man 
expect  to  be  fully  happy,  when  all  these  defects  will  be  eliminated, 
the  entire  world  improved  and  become  perfect,  and  this  perfecti- 
bility appears  to  be  implied  in  the  world-scheme  and  is  actually 
going  on,  the  universe  is  ever  improving. — A  great  idea  '.^ 

A  glimpse  of  this  theory,  I  believe  to  find  in  the  much  quoted 
Guide  of  Maimonides,  part  HI,  with  some  slight  Jewish  varia- 
tion :  "Most  of  man's  ills  derive  from  himself,  himself  a  growth 
from  the  frail  sperma  and  female  blood.  .  .and  generally  from  his 
very  origin,  earthly  matter,  full  of  imperfections.  There  is  th^ 
source  of  human  troubles.  The  sage  must  resign  himself  to  it." 
The  ethical  developments  of  this  Hindu  doctrine  the  Jewish 
teacher  passes  in  silence. 

NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE  AND  THE  NEBULAR 
THEORY. 

It  was  at  the  dawn  of  the  now  past  nineteenth  century  when 
Napoleon  Bonaparte,  as  yet  in  the  bright  morning  of  his  meteor- 
like  career,  was  camping,  with  his  victorious  army,  at  the  foot 
of  the  pyramids,  in  Egypt.  Surrounded  by  his  brave  generals 
and  some  of  the  leading  scholars  of  the  French  Sorbonne,  he 
listened  to  a  learned  discourse  by  one  of  those  professors  on  the 
important  theme,  "The  Nebular  Theory."    It  propounded :    That 

iSee  my  Philosophy  Qabbala  and  Vedanta,  p.  252,  and  Max  Mueller's 
Vedanta  on  this  point. 

2The  Adoration  prayer  (Oleinu)  may  allude  to  this  same  idea:  "We 
hope  to  Thee... to  improve  the  universe  by  thy  divine  ruling." 


NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE  AND  THE  NEBULAR  THEORY.  133 

the  universe  came  out  by  chance,  without  design,  without  a  de- 
signer or  any  inteUigence  shaping  means  to  ends.  There  is 
nothing  but  matter  and  force  inherent  in  matter;  matter,  force 
and  chance  made  the  all.  Originally  there  was  but  chaos  vvith 
molecules;  all  a  fog,  an  ocean  of  minute  corpuscula  filling  the 
infinity  of  space,  an  eternal  monotony,  in  undisturbed  rest,  all 
inert,  lifeless,  motionless.  At  once,  hy  some  accident  C^^  a 
shock  came  into  that  world-mass  of  dead,  silent  particles.  That 
shock  disturbed  the  foggy  atoms  of  the  universal,  sleeping  mass. 
It  disrupted  and  divided  itself  into  large  groups,  according  to 
chemical  affinities.  They  began  to  tumble  and  fall,  some  quicker 
and  some  slower,  according  to  their  specific  Vv^eight  and  attrac- 
tions, thus  coalescing  with  other  cognate  matter,  forming  with 
them  larger,  separate  bodies,  rounded  globes  adhering  to  their 
centers  by  affinity  and  the  force  of  gravitation,  thus  differen- 
tiating in  separate  globes  according  to  the  same  laws.  The  largest 
became  stars  and  then  fixed  stars,  attracting  to  themselves 
smaller  bodies,  the  planets,  their  rings,  trabants,  etc.  into  the 
orbits  of  their  own,  airy  spaces.  These  self-made  suns  radiating 
their  light  and  heat,  produced  on  their  planets  evaporations, 
clouds  and  rainfall;  so  came  vegetation,  the  animial  kingdom  and 
at  last  man,  with  his  brain  distilling — all  by  itself — thoughts, 
intelligence,  aspirations,  experiences,  theories,  science,  laws, 
schemes  of  creed,  community,  state,  civilization ;  all,  originating  in 
matter  and  force  and  stimulated  by  chance!  No  primordial 
mind,  no  intelligence,  no  design  and  no  designer,  no  architect, 
except — that  accidental  brute  shock,  by  mere  blind  chance,  that 
caused  and  produced  all ! — Napoleon  Bonaparte  listened  intently 
to  this  highly  interesting  discourse,  but  he  felt  most  disappointed 
at  that  sad  conclusion,  staking  the  universe  upon  that  poor,  acci- 
dental shock,  giving  the  impulse  to  creation.  Pausing  for  a 
while,  raising  his  eyes  to  the  bright,  luminous,  starry  heavens 
of  a  beautiful  Egyptian  night,  and  pointing  v/ith  his  hand  to 
that  enrapturing  starry  expanse,  he  slowly  and  deliberately  ut- 
tered these  commonsense  words:  "And  all  this  is  but  chance? 
That  is  impossible!"!  And  the  entire  brilliant  assembly  of 
uniformed  listeners  repeated  :  "Impossible !"  And  the  common- 
sense  of  all  times  will  repeat :    That  is  impossible ! 


lEt  tout  cela  n'est  que  chance?   C'est  impossible! 


134  EXODUS,   MIOSES   AND   THE   DECALOGUE. 

PSALMIST,  JOB,  KANT,  HERBERT  SPENCER. 

Even  so  the  meditation  of  Psalm  XIX :  "The  Heavens 
proclaim  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  firmament  announces  his 
handiwork.  Day  unto  day  and  night  unto  night  repeat  this 
manifestation.  Without  speech  or  tongue  or  audible  voice,  still 
their  rays  over-span  the  earth  and  their  utterances  reach  the 
end  of  the  world."  Even  this  is  the  theme  discussed  by  the  poet- 
philosopher  in  the  Biblical  book  of  Job.  When  happy  and  satis- 
fied we  willingly  admit  the  all-presence  of  Diety,  Providence, 
All-wise  divine  government.  But  when  under  a  cloud,  we  are 
much  inclined  to  assume  that  mere  chance  rules.  So  the  God- 
head silences  murmuring,  unhappy  Job :  "Who  is  it  that  obscures 
good  sense  with  foolish  words?  Gird  thy  loins  and  answer  my 
questions :  Where  wast  thou  when  I  laid  the  earth's  foundations  ? 
Where  are  its  bases  and  where  its  corner-stone?  What  holds  in 
bonds  the  ocean?  Where  are  its  sources?  Didst  thou  ever  com- 
mand the  dawn,  or  tune  the  harmonies  of  the  morning  stars? 
Didst  thou  ever  reach  the  abysses  of  the  sea?  Knowest  thou 
whence  comes  light?  Why  darkness,  heat  and  cold?  Canst  thou 
bind  up  the  Pleiades  or  loosen  Orion?  or  lead  and  bring  forth 
Masaroth  in  time,  or  guide  Ardhteus  and  its  yoimg?  Knowest 
thou  the  orders  of  the  heavens  or  the  norms  of  matter?. .  .And 
Job  replies :  "Alas,  I  am  too  mean,  I  cannot  answer ...  I  put  my 
hand  on  my  lips  !"i ..  .Alas,  the  creature  of  yesterday  cannot 
solve  the  problems  of  eternity.  Our  eyes  are  dazzled  by  the  sun- 
light, how  can  we  claim  to  define  the  Sun  of  all  suns?  Even  so 
the  philosopher  Kant :  "Two  witnesses  testify  to  the  existence  of 
God,  the  starry  heavens  above  and  our  humane  consciousness 
within  us."  Even  so  Herbert  Spencer  (First  Principles,  page 
13):  "The  God-Idea  is  no  invention. .  .Duly  considered,  the 
diverse  forms  of  religious  belief  have  all  a  basis  in  some  ultimate 
fact.  ..To  suppose  them  absolutely  groundless,  discredits  human 
intelligence.  .  .Religious  ideas  of  one  kind  or  another  are  almost 
universal  and  omnipresent.  (Ibidem,  page  14.)  A  candid  ex- 
amination of  the  evidence,  quite  negatives  the  opinion  that  creeds 
are  priestly  inventions.  .  .Their  universality,  their  evolution,  their 
great  vitality  show  that  their  source  is  deep-rooted. .  .We  are 
logically  compelled  to  admit  that,  if  not  supernatural,  they  must 


iJob,  Chapters  38-40. 


SUMMING  UP.  135 

be  derived  out  of  human  experiences  slowly  accumulated  and 
organized.". . .  (Ibid.,  15-16.)  The  religious  ideas  resulted,  along 
with  all  other  human  faculties,  either  from  an  act  of  special  crea- 
tion, or  by  a  process  of  evolution .  . .  never  by  an  invention  of 
priests.  . .  and  are  conducive  to  human  welfare. . ." 

SUMMING  UP. 

Let  us  summarize  what  we  have  seen  above :  The  leading 
doctrine  of  the  Decalogue,  the  corner-stone  of  the  Mosaic  State, 
is  the  God-concept ;  God  in  the  Universe,  in  the  State,  the 
Church,  the  home ;  He  is  the  all-pervading,  dominating  influence. — 
Did  not  paganism  also  teach  that?  Yes,  but  too  many,  10,000 
gods !  That  means  10,000  principles !  The  Bible  teaches  one 
principle,  and  that  is  all-important.  Again,  the  pagan  god  is 
force,  the  biblic  one  is  holiness.  The  pagan  many  gods  mean, 
necessarily,  war  and  conflict;  the  Biblical  Only  One  is  harmony 
and  peace.  Hence  is  the  Mosaic  God-idea  alone  the  base  of 
civilization :  Hearing  the  testimony  of  science,  common-sense 
and  conscience,  we  gained  there  our  God-conviction.  Examining 
then  nature,  we  found  there  God;  not  simply  as  an  ideal,  but  as 
the  Reality.  You,  I,  this  city,  the  Sun — all,  are  but  accidental, 
dependent,  ever  evanescent;  God  alone  is  absolute,  permanent 
and  his  own  Cause ;i  God  is  before  nature;  God  is,  even  when 
nature  is  to  be  no  longer. 

What  is  God  ?  We  know  not.  He  is  unknowable  to  human  ken. 
A  God  definable  by  man  is  no  God  at  all.  We  cannot  raise  the 
veil  of  nature,  far  less  see  God's  face.  Ihvh,  Elohim,  Adonai,  etc., 
designate  but  our  own  partial  concepts  of  Him,  never  His  Es- 
sence, ever  shrouded  in  mystery,  impenetrable  to  human  gaze. 
(I  Kings,  viii.,  12).  "Ihvh  is  pleased  to  rest  in  nebulae."  How 
did  He  create  the  All  ?  The  Bible  is  reticent.  All  it  does  state  is 
that  Mind  evolved  matter ;  whilst  materialism  claims :  Matter 
evolved  mind.  Now,  of  these  two  unfathomable  assertions,  the 
biblical  one  is  by  far  the  more  satisfactory.  Genesis,  Chapter  I, 
is  not  a  history  of  the  mode  of  creation ;  that  mode  remains  an 


iWhat  is  the  cause  and  what  is  the  final  object  of  the  Divine  Exist- 
ence? Artistotle  replies:  "Since  God  is  eternal  and  absolute,  such 
questions  are  inadmissible."  Kant  replies:  "Such  questions  are  use- 
less, transcendental.  Transcending  human  intelligence  and  foolish  is 
the  question:  'What  is  the  final  object  of  the  world?'"  Maimonides 
assuming  the  universe  created,  is  not  fully  consistent  on  this  problem. 
(Guide,  part  III);  a  hard  nut! 


136  EXODUS,   MOSES   AND   THE   DECALOGUE. 

open  problem,  probably  never  to  be  solved  by  men.  We  then 
examined  the  Nebular  Theory,  the  materialistic  conception  of 
Creation  without  a  Creator,  Intelligence,  design  or  designer,  cre- 
ation by  chance,  by  a  mere  accidental  shock,  and  found  that 
shocking  indeed,  contrary  to  all  experience  and  common-sense. 

Thus  we  have  seen  that  positive,  materialistic  science,  that  the 
market,  the  exchange,  the  politics,  the  five  senses,  the  physician's 
knife,  do  not  discover  the  Divine  Presence  in  the  universe.  But 
when  we  look  to  our  conscience,  to  nature,  to  moral  science,  to 
the  large  majority  of  thinkers  and  to  common  sense  especially, 
we  find  the  confirmation  of  the  Decalogue :  "I  am  the  Eternal, 
thy  God."  As  there,  so  we  find  God  in  the  universe,  in  history,  in 
the  various  temples  of  all  times,  in  our  hearts  and  in  our  intelli- 
gence; we  find  that,  in  last  resort,  not  chance,  force  and  cun- 
ning rule,  but  Supreme  wisdom,  justice,  fitness,  equity;  that  the 
universe  is  formed  and  superintended  by  the  Being  All-holy. 
'T  am  the  Eternal,"  is  thus  the  foundation  stone  of  the  Mosaic 
society.  For  the  idea  of  God-holy  creates  man-holy,  with  justice, 
peace  and  good  will  in  the  universe  and  among  men.  It  sancti- 
fies all  the  relations  between  citizen  and  State,  man  and  fellow- 
man,  parent  and  child,  husband  and  wife.  Whilst  the  hypothesis 
of  no-God  but  force,  makes  man  a  brute,  and  selfishness,  bar- 
barism and  war  the  norm  of  society.  Hence  stands  our  human 
civilization  on  the  rock  of  the  Decalogue,  a  Holy-God  makes  for 
a  civilized  man,  a  pure  family  and  a  civilized  State.  This  is  the 
net  result  of  our  preceding  meditation. 

MOSAIC  GOD-IDEA  CONTRASTED  WITH  OTHER 

SYSTEMS:    DUAEISM. 

Socrates  once  said  to  his  hearers,  jestingly:  "I  cannot  create 
ideas,  but  I  will  try  to  help  you  to  do  so;  just  as  my  mother 
the  midwife,  she  no  longer  bears  children,  but  she  assists  others 
in  their  labors."  Let  us  begin  with  advancing  the  metaphysical 
ideas  of  other  systems,  which,  by  their  contrast,  will  help  to 
elucidate  our  own :  "I  am  the  Eternal,  thy  God,"  simply  states 
that  God  exists,  that  he  is  the  reality,  not  an  ideal  contrived  by 
poets  or  priests,  "as  the  cunningly  devised  savior  of  this  sickly 
world-scheme." 

No !  looking  closely  and  intently  at  the  fleeting  and  changeable 
character  of  the  infinite  number  of  bodies  of  this  universe,  from  a 


MOSAIC  GOD-IDEA  CONTRASTED  WITH  OTHER  SYSTEMS: 

137 
drifting  leaflet  to  the  huge  sun-globe,  we  arrive  at  the  conclusion 
that  they  are  but  apparent  phenomena,  and  that  their  reality, 
numina,  their  eternal,  intrinsic,  never-changing  essence  is  He, 
the  Only  One,  the  all-holy  Being.  So  a  great  Jewish  philoso- 
pher, much  misunderstood  by  the  vulgar,  defined:  "As  the 
ocean  is  the  reality,  to  the  earnest  beholder,  whilst  the  ocean 
waves  are  but  accidental,  perishable  and  ephemeral,  one  swal- 
lowing up  the  other,  and  finally,  are  all  absorbed  by  the  deep, 
even  such  are  all  the  visible,  single  bodies  in  existence,  but  tiny, 
fleeting  shadows,  perishable  things,  all  coming  from  and  sub- 
merging back  into  the  divine  Source,  their  origin."  So  the 
fisher-boy,  in  his  skifif,  cares  only  for  the  shore,  the  surface,  the 
waves,  the  net  with  fish,  his  temporal  catch;  whilst  the  great 
navigator  Columbus,  or  Vasco  Di  Gama,  looking  for  discoveries, 
for  new  continents,  seeks  the  grand,  vast  and  boundless  ocean 
as  his  object;  even  so  looks  man  for  food  and  shelter,  whilst  the 
philosopher  seeks  and  finds  but — Deity. 

"I  am  the  Eternal,  thy  God,"  God  is  One,  not  two. — Two  Su- 
preme Principles  are  taught  by  Parseeism,  the  great  world-religion 
of  the  Persians ;  a  mighty  nation  which,  under  Cyrus  and  Darius 
(540  A.  C.)  had  erected  the  first  world-empire,  which  soon  much 
befriended  the  Jews,  and  which  was,  in  many  respects,  akin  to 
them  and  to  Mosaism.  Zoroaster,  their  teacher,  had  originally 
taught  the  Only  One  God,  A.hura-Mazdao,  who  was  one,  spirit- 
ual, eternal,  not  embodied  or  represented  by  any  image.  Yet, 
later  and  gradually,  the  Magian  priests  admitted  a  dualistic 
theology.  Ahura-Mazdao  was  the  Only-One  God  of  good  and 
of  light ;  and  Angro  Mainyus  was  the  God  of  Evil  and  of  dark- 
ness ;  his  eternal  antagonist,  the  genius  of  inert  nature  and  brute 
force,  the  devil.  Both  represented  the  two  reverse  sides  of 
existence ;  mind  and  matter,  good  and  evil,  life  and  death,  sum- 
mer and  winter,  day  and  night,  joy  and  sorrow,  virtue  and  vice, 
ever  contending  against  each  other.  The  afiinity  and  the  theo- 
logical antagonism  of  Judaism  and  of  Parseeism,  are  a  striking 
analogy  of  present  Judaism  and  Christianity.  And  their  polemics 
too  have  their  strong  parallelism,  they  are  assenting  and  dis- 
senting: So  Is.  45,  1-8,  discusses  Parseeism:  "Thus  spake 
Ihvh  to  his  annointed  one,  Cyrus,  whom  I  hold  by  the  hand,  sub- 
duing nations  under  him..  .1  walk  before  thee.  .  .breaking  down 
the  gates  of  brass  and  the  bolts  of  iron. .  .That  thou  shalt  know 


138  EXODUS,   MOSES   AND  THE   DECALOGUE. 

that  I,  Ihz'h,  the  God  of  Israel,  have  called  thee  out  by  thy  name, 
for  the  sake  of  My  servant  Jacob ...  I  am  Ihvh,  besides  Me  there 
are  no  other  gods..  .That  they  shall  know  from  East  to  West, 
that  there  is  none  other  but  Me,  the  Creator  of  light — and  of 
darkness,  who  makes  peace  and  creates  evil,  I,  Ihvh,  do  all  that ! 
Thus  fraternizing  with  the  Persians,  calling  their  leader,  Cyrus, 
by  the  august  name  of  Messiah,  he,  nevertheless,  and  in  the  same 
strain,  antagonizes  and  repudiates  their  dualistic  God-concept, 
insisting  upon  "God-one  of  the  Decalogue."  Science  and  com- 
mon-sence  corroborate  monotheism.  The  two  opposite  phases  in 
nature,  light  and  darkness,  pleasure  and  pain,  life  and  death,  etc., 
are  but  apparently  antagonistic;  really  they  are  the  sequels,  con- 
dition and  physical,  absolute  necessity  of  each  other.  Vice,  tears 
and  misfortune  are  but  human,  personal  feelings  and  affects.  In 
nature  all  is  joy,  harmony,  light,  happiness.  There  is  no  Princi- 
ple of  Evil  in  nature.  There  is  but  Ihz'h,  good.  Existence  is 
good. 

UNITY  AND  TRINITY. 

Nearly  all  the  ancient  religions  and  mythologies  had  a  trini- 
tarian  aspect  and  basis.  They  all  looked  upon  the  supreme  divine 
powers  as  consisting  in  a  triad ;  so  in  Egypt,  Babylonia,  Assyria, 
Phoenicia,  Greece.  So  was  especially  Brahmanism.  Hence  came 
trinitarian,  gentile  christology,  following  that  train  of  thought 
and  formula;  amalgamating  the  triad  of  the  Orient  with  the 
unitarianism  of  Judaea,  it  retained  the  essence  of  the  latter  within 
the  formula  of  the  former.  Logically  they  clashed,  but  prac- 
tically they  smoothened  and  prepared  the  way  to  conversion  by 
compromise.  By  that  amalgamation,  however  illogical,  the  an- 
cient Gentile  nations  and  their  several  religions  could  fuse  and 
merge  easily  into  the  new  Christianity  and  at  the  same  time  be- 
stow upon  its  founder  a  divine  authority,  then  absolutely  neces- 
sary for  its  acceptance.  As  Lessing  has  remarked :  "The  pot  of 
brass  desires  to  be  lifted  out  of  the  fire  with  tongues  of  silver,  in 
order  to  imagine  itself  of  the  same  precious  metal. "^  We  come 
now  to  Brahmanism.  There  we  see  the  trinitarian  God- 
idea  the  clearest.  Examining  natural  phenomena,  the  Hindu 
sages  found  things  arising,  developing  and  decaying;  be  born, 
live  and  die.  These  three  salient  stages  of  one  existence,  they 
subsumed,  as  the  effects  of  three  leading  powers,  a  triune  deity: 

iNathan  the  Wise,  Lessing. 


UNITY   AND    TRINITY.  139 

Brahma,  Wishnu  and  Si  van,  hence  the  trinity  of  the  godhead. 
But  looking  closer  into  nature,  we  fail  to  find  such  three  distinct 
stages  or  powers.  We  find  no  three  abrupt  stages,  but  eternal, 
gradual  development.  Science  declares  birth,  growth  and  death  as 
but  developments,  nominal,  not  real  changes,  aspects  of  existence, 
rings  in  a  chain  of  ever  continuing  unfoldngs,  without  begin 
or  end.  Birth  is  preceded  by  the  seed,  long  ago  pre-existing,  and 
death  is  not  annihilation.  The  body  dead,  changes  its  appear- 
ance, its  form,  not  its  essence,  it  continues  in  other  forms.^  What 
was,  is  and  remains,  but  in  other  shapes.  Ever  is  decomposition 
and  recomposition  going  on.  Even  the  living  organism  is  ever 
eliminating  and  assimilating,  daily  dying  and  regenerating;  we 
die  and  are  rejuvenated  at  the  same  time.  All  in  nature  is  ebb 
and  flow,  birth  and  death,  at  each  moment.  So,  also,  at  each  new 
birth  the  parent  dies  off  a  little,  and  at  each  death  some  new  life 
is  sprouting  forth  from  the  grave.  Nature  is  one  grand  reservoir, 
nothing  there  is  lost  or  wasted.  So  are  the  dying  autumn  flowers  ; 
so  our  dear  ones  in  the  grave.  Birth,  growth  and  death  are  all 
one  process,  uninterrupted,  never  ceasing,  and  all  induced  by 
one  and  same  divine  impulse :    "Ihvh  is  one,"  not  three ! 

Ancient  Egypt  had  a  triad-deity.  Each  of  its  dozen  of  prin- 
cipalities or  nomes  had  its  own  triad,  one  deity  represented  under 
the  aspect  of  three ;  with  its  proper  idols,  its  own  priesthood,  cult 
and  temple;  they  were  grandiloquently  taught,  under  different 
pompous  emblems  and  names,  yet  each  triad  represented  but  one 
divinity,  one  idea  of  a  threefold  nature,  as  male,  female  and 
combination;  or  as  father,  mother  and  child;  as  positive  and 
negative  forces,  or  electricity  or  magnetism  and  their  effect;  or 
as  Osiris,  Isis  and  Horus,  etc.  Science  and  common-sense  show 
the  futility  of  such  philosophems.  Three  or  a  hundred  combined 
make  no  world-principles,  or  gods.  So  official  Christianity,  too, 
propounded  trinity,  but  its  founders  did  not.  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
was  a  Jew  of  the  Jews.  He  ever  believed  in  God-One.  He  neither 
taught  a  triad  in  concrete  or  in  abstract;  least  did  he  assume 
himself  as  a  hypostasis  and  part  of  the  trinity.  Possibly  he  may 
have  thought  himself  a  descendant  of  David,  a  messiah,  destined 
to  lead  and  free  the  world  from  Roman  oppression  and  idolatry. 
So    the    Caesarian    government  combined   with    the    Herodian 


iMaimonides  already  guessed  that:  Guide,  part  I,  p.  17.     It  is  iden- 
tical with  the  ]\Iindu  metempsychosis,  applied  to  soul  and  body. 


140  EXODUS,   MOSES   AND   THE   DECALOGUE, 

princes  and  their  high-priestly  satelHtes  and  removed  him  as  a 
possible  or  actual  rebel.  Thus  neither  Jesus  nor  the  apostles 
taught  trinity.  They  all  were  and  remained,  to  the  end  of  their 
lives,  Jews  and  monotheists.  It  was  Paul  of  Tarsus,  a  Jew  with 
a  twofold  education,  a  Judaeo-rabinnical  one,  combined  with  a 
Graeco-Alexandrian  one,  who  seriously  took  up  and  advanced 
the  messianic  claim,  following  a  mystic  Jewish-Qabbalistic  doc- 
trine, that  the  Messiah,  Mushiah,  Christ  is  a  primordial,  super- 
natural, divine  person,  identifying  that  with  the  Graeco-Alexan- 
drine  Logos,  God's  First  EiTtanation.^  Three  centuries  later, 
when  the  few,  original  Jew-Christians  had  been  set  aside  and 
eliminated  by  the  incoming  overwhehr.ing  mass  of  converts, 
these,  the  Graeco-Gentile  Christians,  established  trinity,  first 
consisting  of  God-the-Father,  Mary  the  goddess-mother  and 
Christ,  God-the-Son.  The  Council  of  Nicea  (324  P.  C),  desir- 
ing to  obliterate  that  polytheistic  origin,  changed  that  into :  God- 
the-Father,  God-the-Son  and  God-the-holy-Ghost.  .  .all  the  three 
to  form  one  triune  deity  and  formally  combining  polytheism  and 
monotheism.  Thus  whilst  Christianity  officially  teaches  God- 
Three,  in  reality  it  means  God-One. 

The  late  Franz  Delitzsch,  of  Leipsic  University,  alluding  to 
this  fact,  once  asked  me,  in  perfect  good  nature :  "Why  do  you 
Jews  find  offense  in  Trinity,  since  you,  too,  have  your  Elohim, 
Ihvh,  Shekhina,  etc.?  Don't  you,  too,  mean  different  aspects  of 
the  one  and  the  same  God?"  "Yes,"  I  answered,  "if  the  masses 
were  each  a  Franz  Delitzsch,  and  fully,  logically  realized  the 
meaning  of  the  words ;  if  the  official  church  would  be  so  out- 
spoken as  yourself;  if  it  taught  trinity  to  be  but  three  names  of 
God,  phases,  aspects,  attributes,  and  plainly  said  so  in  the  cate- 
chism. But  it  insists,  officially,  that  they  are  three  equally  divine 
persons,  sovereign  each  and  individual,  three  equal,  independent, 
supreme  gods,  each  omnipotent,  omnipresent,  etc.,  still  all  three 
making  One !"  Passing  over  the  logical  incongruity,  see  the 
practical  result:  The  masses  neglect  entirely  the  One  God  in 
Spirit,  persecute  the  people  of  the  Decalogue,  and  worship — the 
goddess-mother  or  the  incarnated  God-the-Son !  "I  am  the 
Eternal,  thy  God. .  .Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  in  My  pres- 
ence. ..Thou  shalt  make  unto  thee  no  images,  nor  bow  to,  nor 
serve  them." — that  is  entirely  overlooked.  And  if  you  call  atten- 
tion to  it,  you  are — damned  ! 


iSee  Philosophy  Gabbala,  etc.,  on  it. 


THE  FOUR  ELEMENTS.     POLYTHEISM.  141 

The  Graeco-naturalistic  philosophers  taught  the  four  elements. 
Assuming  to  find  in  each  terrestrial  body  a  composition  of  earth, 
water,  fire  and  air,  they  claimed  these  to  be  the  elements,  the 
divine  substances  underlying  nature.  Chemistry  has  long  ago 
proven  this  to  be  a  fallacy ;  they  being  no  elements,  but  composites, 
each  of  them  consisting  of  many  sub-elements,  viz. :  molecules, 
atoms  which  we  cannot  decompose,  but  improved  future  chem- 
istry may.  The  scientific  trend  is  towards  the  assumption  of  one 
single  element  or  substance  pervading  the  universe.  Thus,  chem- 
istry, as  moral  science,  coincides  with  the  Bible. 

Polytheism  taught  thirty  thousand  gods.  Naive  people,  un- 
ripe thinkers  and  false  priests,  finding  in  physical  nature  and  in 
human  afifairs  so  many  conflicting  forces,  fire  and  water,  storm 
and  lightning  and  earthquake ;  king,  hero  and  conqueror ;  mount, 
ocean  and  star,  etc.,  they  imagined  each  to  be  an  independent 
power,  omnipotent  in  its  own  sphere,  gods.  Science  and  com- 
mon-sense has  long  ago  exploded  this  theory.  They  are  bodies 
and  agents  derived  from  one  center,  rays  of  one  central  dynamis, 
all  necessarily  conspiring  tov/ards  one  grand  aim,  the  harmonious 
universe,  all  governed  by  one  Mind,  which  combines  all  wisdom, 
will  and  omnipotence.  There  are  no  several  creations,  no  diverse 
dominions,  and  no  conflicting  world-forces.  Storms,  cataclysms 
and  earthquakes  are  not  caused  by  warring  Cyclops  and  Titans. 
No,  they  are  results  of  one  central  Power  and  those  forces  are 
but  the  agents  of  the  universal  harmony.  Already  the  ancient, 
nominally  polytheistic,  true  philosophers,  saw  that  as  through  a 
veil,  dimly.  Some  saw  it  almost  clearly  and  distinctly,  as 
Pythagorus,  Plato,  Aristotle,  Marcus  Aurelius.  They  admitted 
the  popular  gods  as  a  popular  concession,  understanding  by  that 
the  subordinate  forces  and  agents  of  the  Central  Power,  one  and 
unique. 

PANTHEISM.     SPINOZA. 

Other  philosophers,  feeling  the  weakness  of  polytheistic  sys- 
tems, contrived  to  hide  and  veil  their  human  ignorance  and 
invented  a  big,  hollow  word,  pantheism :  All  is  God,  this  bound- 
less, eternal  universe  is  one  compound,  animated,  forever  self-ex- 
isting and  self-governing  huge  clock.  As  our  one  body  has  many 
limbs  and  faculties,  all  tending  to  one  object,  its  existence,  life, 
endurance  and  gradual  metamorphosis,  even  so  is  this  world- 
clock  :  One  huge  animated  machine,  identical  with  its  governor 
or  machinist ;  a  storehouse  of  matter,  ever  impregnated  with  mind 


142  EXODUS,   MOSES   AND   THE   DECALOGUE. 

or  force,  instinctively  busy  with  unconscious  self-control,  all  its 
parts  contributing,  as  the  wheels  of  the  clock,  to  perfect  harmony ; 
decay  and  renovation  going  on  by  inherent  law,  the  plus  there 
neutralized  by  the  minus  here ;  the  ocean  ever  emptied  and  ever 
replenished  by  its  own  lakes  and  rivers.  That  is  the  universe,  a 
machine  without  a  machinist,  with  an  automatic  law,  no  lawgiver ! 
What  is  its  proof?  none !  What  is  really  gained  by  such  a  theory? 
What  can  you  make  out  of  it?  Do  we  by  it,  learn  and  know 
more?  Does  pantheism  enlighten,  explain?  Is  it  not  an  empty, 
sonorous  word  to  hush  up  our  ignorance?  Or  is  it  utilitarian? 
Cui  bono?  For  whose  benefit  is  that  doctrine  advanced?  Will 
man  become  wiser,  more  moral,  more  happy,  more  industrious 
by  it?  No!  On  the  contrary,  it  is  disastrous,  it  is  pessimistic,  it 
robs  man  of  his  innate  buoyancy,  hopefulness,  jo}^  in  work,  in 
his  own  creations.  It  robs  him  of  his  humane  personality,  dig- 
nity, responsibility,  and  reduces  him  to  a  tool  in  the  huge,  soulless 
clockwork,  in  the  dead  abyss  of  the  universe.^  The  Decalogue 
obviates  all  that.  It  teaches :  God,  as  Mind,  is  the  All-person- 
ality; and  man  is  his  dim  reflex;  hence,  too,  intelligent,  personal, 
responsible,  optimistic:  "Increase,  work,  reduce  and  enjoy." 
(Gen.,  1,  28.)  The  logician,  the  metaphysician  may  demur  to 
this,  but  practical  common-sense  will  approve :  It  improves  man, 
and  religion  is  a  practical  science,  teaching  "what  man  should 
do  and  live  by  it"  (III  M.,  18:5).  The  Bible  says:  Elohim 
created  all,  viz. :  Mind  was  first,  and  Mind  created  matter ;  it 
shapes  matter,  it  vivifies,  supports,  directs  and  sanctifies  matter. 
Here  is  a  great  factor,  a  noble  lesson,  a  useful  doctrine,  a  power- 
ful stimulant  to  man's  improvement  and  upbuilding. 

Spinoza  did  not  teach  such  crude,  material  pantheism.  As  the 
great  prophets  of  old,  he  was  entirely  wrapt  up  in  the  contem- 
plation of  the  Deity.  He  felt  literally  absorbed  in  the  Godhead. 
His  condition  was  Nirvana,  in  both,  body  and  Soul.  So  Shleier- 
macher  styles  him  justly  the  "holy  Spinoza."  His  life,  his  phil- 
osophy, his  religion,  his  instincts  were  of  one  piece,  as  the 
branches  with  the  Candelabrum.^  He  looked  out,  searched  and  de- 
scried God  behind  the  veiling  screen  of  nature. .  .and  felt  himself, 
his  fellow-men  and  fellow-creatures,  earth  and  heaven  inclusive, 
sunk  in  the  bosom  of  the  Supreme  One.     That  One  was  xAll  to 

1  Renouncing  the  God-belief,  I  feel  as  if  in  a  mad-house,  having  lost 
my  guide  (Heine). 

2An  Agadic  interijretation. 


PANTHEISM.     SPINOZA. 


143 


him.  He  and  the  world  were  mere  bubbles,  shadows,  the  only 
reality  was  God.  So  he  lived,  practiced,  dressed,  conversed  aind 
fed,  the  plainest ;  as  Hanina  Ben  Dossa,  he  carved  out  his  weekly 
loaf  of  bread :  this  peace  is  for  the  Sabbath,  this  for  Sunday,  this 
for  Monday,  etc.,  and  this  for  Friday.  For  him  was  happiness 
and  life  alone  in  contemplation,  thinking,  truth-seeking,  truth  as 
the  seal  of  and  the  avenue  to  Deity,  the  only  magnet  of  his  soul. 
As  to  the  world,  its  aspirations  and  objects,  its  struggles,  pas- 
sions, triumphs  and  vicissitudes,  they  all  appeared  to  him  no  more 
important  than  the  bubbles  on  the  bright  surface  of  the  tempo- 
rarilv  serene  ocean ;  or  as  the  huge,  angry  waves  around,  whipped 
by  the  storms  of  winter ;  or  by  the  whim  of  the  contrary  currents 
of  men's  passions,  short-lived  creatures,  soon  to  be  merged  into 
the  abyss  of  Thcamat  and  swallowed  up  there,  hence  not  worthy 
of  the  notice  of  the  sage.  This  was  Spinoza's  view.  The  world 
was  little  by  itself  and  nothing  to  him;  so  the  One  was  All  to 
him.  And  that  is  Spinoza's  pantheism,  to  him  really  extreme 
Deism.  The  rabbis  remember  the  ascetic  Hanina  Ben  Dossa,  "by 
whose  merits  the  world  existed  and  who  needed  but  one  measure 
of  dry  dates  from  the  Sabbath  to  the  Sabbath."  (Tanith  24.  b— 
Berachoth  61.  b).^  That  could  well  be  said  of  the  Hollandish 
recluse. 

Another  fine  Agadic  saying  is:  "The  righteous  (in  paradise) 
dwell  in  glory,  crown  on  head,  absorbed  in  the  beatitude  of  con- 
templating the  Deity."  This  describes  the  beatitude  of  our  same 
Hollandish  sage.  It  is  absurd  to  designate  him  as  an  infidel,  a 
pantheist,  atheist,  apostate.  The  universe,  to  him,  was  but  the 
frame,  God  was  the  real  tableau.  Less  yet  was  he  an  atheist.  He 
was  an  All-theist.  Least  of  all  w^as  he  an  Apostate.  He  was  an 
extreme  monist.  Still,  and  with  all  my  admiration  for  this 
thinker  and  this  character,  I  am  no  follower  of  his,  nor  would  I 
advise  anybody  to  adopt  and  follow  his  eagle's  flight.  I  and 
you,  reader,  and  most  of  us,  might  get  giddy  when  climbing  up 
to  the  top  of  that  philosophical  obelisk.  His  doctrine  is  too  sub- 
lime to  be  reached,  and  can  be  so  but  by  the  greatest  of  intel- 
lects, as  Lessing  or  Goethe,  so  they  were  not  afraid  of  following 
him.  Usual  mortals  should  abstain.  As  you  pilgrim  to  a  pyra- 
mid, through  sands  and  heat,  and  arriving  at  its  base,  you  turn 


•nat;'  n-\vb  na:^' 


144  EXODUS,   MOSES   AND   THE   DECALOGUE. 

up  your  head  to  contemplate  and  admire  its  grand  proportions,  its 
architecture  and  sublime  suggestions,  but  you  are  too  prudent  to 
climb  up  to  its  summit,  from  fear  it  may  wear  out  your  strength ; 
even  so  is  Spinoza's  philosophy.  Study  it,  contemplate  it,  but 
do  not  adopt  it.  It  surpasses  your  and  my  calibre.  From  its  top 
you  may  well  get  the  vertigo  and  tumble  down  into  the  mire  of 
despair  below.  Still  I  say,  confidently,  he  was  no  opponent  of 
the  Decalogue,  he  was  an  extreme  and  exaggerated  One-God 
believer.  He  saw  nothing  but  the  One ;  there  is  the  strength  and 
the  weakness  of  his  system.  The  Mosaic  God  definition  is  for 
man,  his  is  for  philosophers. 

MOSES,  FICHTE,  SPINOZA,  HEGEL,  SCEPTICISM. 

Anochi  IhvJi,  1,  God,  am.  God  is  conceived  in  Mosaism  per- 
sonally, as  the  Supreme  Being,  not  subsumed  under  or  with  the 
universe.  His  Will  and  his  powers  are  immanent,  pervade  and 
transcend  the  world  of  matter.  He  is  not  limited  by  it;  he  is 
its  extra-mundane  and  spontaneous  Architect  and  Creator,  the 
self-conscious  Intellectus  Activus,  the  Designer  and  Effector  of 
all  existence  and  all  being;  the  author  of  physical  nature  with  its 
laws  and  of  the  moral  laws  of  man. 

The  philosopher,  Fichte,  denied  consciousness  and  personality 
to  the  Deity.  The  Deity,  to  him,  was  man's  conscious  reason  and 
morality,  or  the  Moral  Order  of  the  universe.  That,  of  course, 
borders  on  atheism.  Spinoza's  God-idea,  too,  is  not  entirely 
above  the  same  objection:  "The  Deity's  thought  is  creation. 
Thinking  is  God's  constitutional  and  essential  character,  and  that 
thinking  is  creation."  Hence  is  He  not  the  free,  conscious,  spon- 
taneous world-architect.  He  is  the  unconscious,  impersonal,  im- 
manent law  and  habitus  of  the  universe.  He  is  the  natuva 
naturans,  creating  nature,  whose  constitutional,  necessary  think- 
ing, brought  forth  the  natura  natiirata,  created  nature.  Thus 
to  Spinoza  and  to  Fichte,  as  to  the  Qabbala  and  Vedanta,  is  God 
impersonal ;  the  unconscious  Mind  in  the  boundless  space  and 
infinite  time,  unknowable  to  man.  Now,  if  there  be  no  personal 
God,  consciously  dictating  duty,  right,  reason,  purity,  truthful- 
ness, whence  did  man  obtain  all  these  axioms  and  categories  of 
right-living.  Whence  comes  the  Moral  Order  of  the  universe 
and  the  Moral  Conscience  of  man?  And  if  even  that  would  be 
thinkable  in  the  external  world,  it  would  not  be  practicable  in 


MOSES,   FICHTE,   SPINOZA,   HEGEL,   SCEPTICISM.        145 

human  society;  it  would  be  inefficacious  and  inoperative  upon 
man.  Man  must  have  a  "Categoric  Imperative,  'Thou  shall  not 
kill,  not  be  unchaste,  not  steal,'  "  dictated  by  a  personal,  conscious, 
all-powerful  authority ;  or  he  will  follow  his  own  wayward  in- 
clinations. Therefore  the  Bible  postulates  a  personal  God,  Source 
of  all  individuality,  self-consciousness  and  will-power.  He  is 
holy  and  dictates  moral  and  rational  duties  to  man,  who  is  ra- 
tional, moral  and  responsible :  "Ye  shall  be  holy,  for  holy  am  I, 
your  God."i  That  may  be  less  philosophic,  but  it  is  cogent,  prac- 
tically more  effective,  legislative.  Hegel  assumes  the  universe 
as  autonomous,  self-existing,  rolling  on  its  own  intrinsic  wheels^ 
guided  by  its  own  immanent  laws.  He  reminds  of  the  divine 
chariot  with  its  spontaneous,  self-turning  wheels  and  holy  Hajoth 
of  Ezekiel's  vision  (I,  1.),  less  its  "mysterious  personality  hover- 
ing upon  its  firmament."  That  personality  Hegel  declines.  To 
him  God  is  personified  thinking,  conscious  alone  in  the  human 
brain.  The  human  brain  and  its  thinking  is  the  highest  revela- 
ton  of  the  Godhead,  everywhere  else  dormant.  Now,  if  such 
vague  speculations  may  be  satisfactory  to  the  theorist,  it  can  not 
be  so  to  the  practical  humanist  and  to  the  legislator.  If  there 
be  no  personal,  absolute  Guide  and  no  independent,  autonomous 
Intelligence  in  the  universe,  whence  does  it  come  into  the  human 
brain  ?  Or  is  man  thus  apotheosized,  and  his  thought,  the  Deity  ? 
Is  that  not  the  most  flagrant  idolatry?  Brain  is  but  a  cluster  of 
ganglia,  nerve  tissue,  but  a  tool,  as  any  other  muscle;  how  does 
that  secrete  and  distill  morality,  intelligence  ?  The  theist,  indeed, 
not  Hegel,  gives  us  the  answer,  viz. :  The  Soul  or  Mind  works 
it  out,  as  the  spider  does  the  cobweb,  the  bee  its  honey,  or  best, 
as  the  musician  elicits  his  music  from  the  instrument.  The  music 
originally  derived  from  the  composer,  fills  the  musician's  mind, 
who  brings  it  out  by  the  instrumentality  of  the  violin  or  piano. 
Even  so  duty,  emanated  from  the  Source  of  morality,  is  reflected 
in  man's  mind,  which  man  realizes  in  his  brain  and  his  deeds. 
The  soul  derives  its  thoughts  and  categories  from  the  universal 
divine  Source,  the  ocean  of  wisdom.  Thus,  the  sum  of  human 
goodness  and  intelligence  is  not  God,  as  Hegel's  scheme  pro- 
pounds. No,  that  is  a  poor  self-apotheosis;  it  is,  at  best,  but  a 
ray  emanated  from  the  sun  of  Supreme  benevolence  and  Intelli- 
gence to  illumine  our  earthly  twilight.  The  universe,  no  doubt, 
exhibits  infinitely  grander  divine  revelations  than  does  the  human 
brain. 


iIII  M.  19.1. 


146  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

Scepticism,  doubt  despairs  of  all,  of  the  senses  and  of  reason, 
especially  of  all  thinking  and  of  all  speculation :  "It  is  possible, 
theism  is  right,  possibly  polytheism,  possibly  pantheism,  or  even 
atheism;  and  since  we  are  not  perfectly  sure  and  safe,  hence  is 
all  thinking  wasteful  and  useless !"  This  conclusion  is  totally 
incorrect ;  that  is  to  say  that,  since  human  reason  can  not  fathom 
all,  we  should  renounce  all  knowledge;  drasticaly  put,  it  means, 
since  the  lamp  in  my  hand  is  not  the  sun,  I  should  throw  it  away 
and  walk  in  the  dark!  Or,  since  my  eyes  ache,  are  dim  or  do 
not  see  all,  I  shall  shut  them  forever.  The  right  conclusion  is: 
Let  us  use  reason,  lamp  and  eyes,  and  see  as  much  as  we  can. 
And  what  we  cannot,  good-naturedly  resign  ourselves.  The 
Bible  does  show  us  that :  "The  unknowable  belongs  to  God,  the 
knowable  is  made  for  us  and  our  children."     (V.  M.,  xxix:28.) 

GOD  AND  NATURE. 

Are  God  and  nature  identical  ?  Judaism  decidedly  replies  :  No  ! 
God  is  creator  and  nature  is  created.  Nature  (natura,  nasco)  is 
the  abstract  name  of  the  complex  of  all  concrete  things  and  their 
laws,  existing  in  the  infinite  space.  Nature  means :  All  things 
born,  or  made.  Hence  when  I  ask:  Who  made  the  world?  and 
am  answered.  Nature !  That  is  meaningless,  tautology,  an  empty 
word  to  hide  ignorance.  That  illustrates  Goethe's  remark: 
"Just  where  ideas  are  lacking,  there  a  word  is  at  hand  to  take 
their  place."  The  Bible  teaches,  "In  the  beginning  God  created 
heaven  and  earth,"  viz. :  Mind  brought  forth  nature.  True,  it 
states  that  only,  and  not  also  how  creation  came  out.  That  is 
above  our  human  comprehension.  God  and  creation  are  equally 
unknowable  to  man.  We  see  the  universe,  we  conclude  and 
reason  out  that  God  is.  We  cannot  grasp  the  zOJiat  and  the  hozv 
of  either.  And  since  we  cannot  understand  it,  the  Bible  wisely 
abstains  from  attempting  to  explain  it.  But  for  all  human  pur- 
poses it  suffices  us  to  know,  that:  In  the  begin  of  time,  "God 
created  the  heaven  and  the  earth.".  .  And  this  involves  a  doc- 
trine which  tallies  best  with  human  civilization.  The  schemes  of 
old  and  modern  philosophers  may  do  for  philosophers,  not  for 
practical  legislators.  Practically  looked  at,  in  what  relation  stands 
God  to  nature  ?    The  rabbis  say :   "As  creator  to  creature,  as  soul 


GOD  AND     NATURE.     .  147 

to  body,  as  thought  to  brain."  Goethe's^  reply  may  be  adduced  too : 
"He  stands  behind  the  whirhng  wheels  of  time  and  weaves 
(nature)  his  own  garment  divine."  God  is  the  Universal  Mind, 
and  nature  his  visible,  majestic  robe.  Even  so  the  Psalm  104.2. 
"He  dons  the  light  as  His  robe,  and  expands  the  heavens  as  his 
tapestry."  The  Qabbalistic^  philosopher  interprets  it  in  the  same 
sense,  in  the  name  of  R.  Simon  b.  Yohai. 

Thus  we  have  seen  that  moral  science,  common-sense  and 
leading  philosophers,  ancient  and  modern,  coincide  with  the  Deca- 
logue and  the  Bible  that  God  exists,  rules  and  upholds  all.  And 
this  God-belief  is  the  corner-stone  of  the  universe  and  also  of 
human  civilization.  It  is  the  first  doctrine  of  the  Decalogue,  ex- 
panding in:  "Be  holy,  for  I,  your  God,  am  holy  (HI  M.,  19  :i).  It 
is  its  logical  syllogism :  God-holy  sanctifies  man  and  all  his  rela- 
tions, those  of  the  parent,  consort  and  citizen;  of  duty,  right  and 
freedom.  Whilst  God-force  means :  man  is  an  ape,  a  brute,  with 
selfishness,  war  and  exploitation.  Hence  are  man's  best  interests 
bound  up  with  the  Hebraic  Decalogue. 

POLYTHEISM  AND  ITS  POLITY.     Exodus,  XX,  4. 

Jewish  theologians  usually  count  Exodus  xx.,  3 — 6,  as  the 
Second  Commandment.  It  corroborates  the  First,  enlarging  and 
dwelling  upon  it  and  showing  its  full  import :  "Thou  shalt  have 
no  other  gods  in  my  presence,  "al  penai,"  or  as  Onkelos  translates  : 
besides  Me.^  Thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thee  any  graven 
image  or  any  likeness . .  .  Thou  shalt  not  bow  down  to,  nor  worship 
them."  Following  the  rabbis,  Maimonides  (Yad,  Mada,  Intro- 
duction) counts  these  verses  as  the  first  prohibiting  laws  of  the 
six  hundred  and  thirteen  commandments  of  the  Thora.  They 
are  subsumed  to  mean:  "Not  to  mentally  admit  of  any  divine 
plurality;  not  to  tolerate  any  divine  images  or  figures  in  relief  or 
color ;  not  to  offer  them  any  manner  of  veneration ;  and  least,  the 
one  customary  to  their  cult.^  "For  I,  Ihvh,  thy  God,  am  a  zealous 
God,  who  visits  the  guilt  of  the  fathers  upon  the  children  to  the 
third  and  fourth  generations  of  those  who  hate  me,  and  bestows 


lEr  steht  hinter  dem  Webstuhl  der  Zeit,  und  wirket  sein  eigen  le- 
bendiges  Kleid. 

2 Philosophy  and  Qabbala,  Vol.  II. 

SMaimonides  Yad,  Mada,  Introduction,  subdivided  further  still  the 
sentences. 

4Bar  meni. 


148  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

grace  on  thousands  of  generations  of  those  who  love  me  and 
observe  my  commandments." 

We  have  above  considered  the  great  gift  the  Bible  has  con- 
ferred on  mankind  by  the  Decalogue,  with  its  special  message,  its 
leading  doctrine,  that  there  is  God,  that  divine  Providence  exists, 
that  He  is  One,  unity  not  plurality  of  Godhead;  rejecting  thus  all 
mythology,  with  its  host  of  divinities,  its  base  superstitions,  its 
mean  priestcraft,  usurpations  and  hypocrisy,  its  shameful,  un- 
chaste practices  and  horrifying  human  sacrifices,  its  stupid,  un- 
chaste idol-worship  and  monstrous  mysteries,  with  idle  supernatu- 
ralism,  and  gross  naturalism,  its  miracles,  necromancy,  exploita- 
tion of  the  ignorant,  apothesis  of  the  worst  passions  and  the 
worst  rulers.  All  that  was  bound  up  and  intimately  connected 
with  ancient  polytheism,  idolatry  and  false  cults.  Against  that 
the  chief  effort  of  the  Bible  and  the  Decalogue  in  special,  was 
directed.  The  latter  prohibits  it  peremptorily  and  repeatedly,  the 
entire  Pentateuch  emphasizing  it  again  and  again  in  a  hundred 
modes,  and  the  prophets  made  it  as  often  the  absorbing  theme 
of  their  harangues  and  the  chief  object  of  their  fiery  denuncia- 
tions, as  the  crime  against  God  and  man ;  representing  it  as  the 
source  of  all  corruptions,  vices  and  misfortunes;  showing  the 
practical  importance  of  a  right  principle  and  the  banefulness  of 
a  wrong  one.  We  need  but  read  history,  describing  the  im- 
morality, superstition,  wretchedness  and  abject  sensuality  of  the 
masses,  the  effrontery,  the  overbearing  and  the  hypocrisy  of  the 
priesthood;  the  horrors,  the  lasciviousness,  the  cruelty  of  their 
cults,  representing  the  gods  anxious  for  meat,  drink,  sensuality, 
hilarity  and  setting  to  man  the  example  of  immorality ;  and,  lastly, 
the  rulers,  the  patricians,  going  hand  in  hand  with  the  hierarchs, 
dictating  the  oracles  and  interpreting  them  to  their  own  advan- 
tage. This  gives  us  the  cue  and  shows  the  reason  why  the 
Mosaic  Legislator  was  so  severe  and  intent  upon  extirpating  that 
mean,  polytheistic  tinsel  civilization,  and  teach  the  pure  God-man- 
and  morality-ideas. 

Closely  examining  this  we  see  that  Mosaism  is  intent  more  even 
upon  the  negative  side  than  the  positive  one  of  religion ;  it  em- 
phasizes, accentuates  and  inculcates  that  besides  the  One  God 
in  Spirit,  there  are  no  gods  and  no  divine  genii ;  that  the  heathen 
priesthood,  with  their  so-called  philosophies,  mysteries,  creeds, 
cults,  ceremonies  and  tenets  are  false,  fraudulent,  surreptitious 


POLYTHEISM  AND  ITS  POLITY.  149 

and  abominable  lies ;  that  the  Israelitish  people  shall  shun  them, 
abhor  them,  not  tolerate  their  temples,  images  and  cults,  not 
even  imitate  their  customs  and  habits,  as  heathen  pernicious 
practices.  Sternly  it  enjoins :  "When  in  the  land  of  the  Amor- 
ites,  Hitites,  Khanaanites. .  .thou  shalt  deny  and  reject  them... 
thou  shalt  not  bow  down  to  their  gods,  not  imitate  their  prac- 
tices and  habits.  Destroy  them  thoroughly  and  break  down  their 
stylae. .  .  Gradually  I  shall  expell  and  exterminate  them,  until 
thou  wilt  occupy  the  land  as  thy  inheritance.  Little  by  little  I  shall 
drive  them  out  and  deliver  them  into  thy  power. .  .Never  make 
any  alliance  with  them,  nor  with  their  gods . .  .  They  shall  not  dwell 
in  thy  land,  lest  they  cause  thee  to  rebel  against  and  apostatize 
from  Me,  induce  thee  to  worship  their  gods  and  become  to  thee 
a  snare  and  a  stumbHng  block."  (Exod.  xxiii.,  23-33.)  For 
that  reason  images  of  man,  sun,  moon  and  stars  were  forbidden. 
So  were  altars,  idols,  styles,  sacred  groves  and  heathen  sacrifices. 
The  severest  penalties  were  enacted  against  image  worship.  Idol- 
atrous cities  and  tribes  were  to  be  destroyed  root  and  stem. 
All  communication  and  alliance  between  Israelites  and  heathens 
were  broken  off,  and  their  customs  rigidly  differentiated.  The 
monotheist  should  be  distinguished  even  by  dress,  manners,  food, 
etc.,  from  the  idolator,  so  as  to  prevent  any  assimilation  or  re- 
lapse. (Maimonides,  Yad  Mada.  Hilehoth  Akum  III-XII.  Yo- 
reh,  Deah,  141,  178,  179,  etc.) 

Indeed,  considering  the  host  of  Biblical  texts,  vehemently  and 
peremptorily  prohibiting  idolatry,  we  find  out  the  real  object  of 
Mosaism.i  It  was  rather  negative  than  positive:  "Be  not 
superstitious,  no  idolator !"  God  requires  obedience  to  the  law 
(I  Sam.  15:22),  in  preferment  to  sacrifices  and  incense. 

The  abrogation  and  expunction  of  such  notions  and  customs 
hailing  from  Baal,  Moloch,  etc.,  cults,  universally  dominant  su- 
perstitions, religious  parasites,  was  the  first  great  object  of  the 
lawgiver.  Comparatively  few  are  his  positive  commandments, 
and  they  are  all  inscribed  on  the  tablets  of  the  human  heart,  in 
experience,  conscience,  reason.  To  such  prohibitions  and  enact- 
ments is  consecrated  the  Decalogue  and  its  expansion,  Leviticus 
xix.  2. 


iMaimonid.  Guide,  III,  29. 


150  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

Around  that  as  the  inner  nucleus,  cluster  the  five  Books  of 
Moses ;  which  Thora  again,  had  its  enlargement  and  expounding, 
its  adaptations  and  modifications,  according  to  times  and  environ- 
ments, in  the  Mishna,  the  Talmud  and  the  Casuists.  These  com- 
ment on  the  Thora,  the  Thora  on  the  Decalogue,  and  the  Deca- 
logue puts  the  chief  stress  on  the  abrogation  and  expurgation  of 
the  multitude  of  heathen  forms  and  superstitions  which  were 
then  taught  in  the  name  of  the  old  heathen  religions. 

Even  so  Maimonides  (Guide  III,  35)  :  To  the  heathen  gods 
they  sacrificed  vermin,  mice  and  creeping  things,  whilst  the  Thora 
teaches  the  only  One  God,  who  asks  for  nothing  else  but  to  love 
and  fear  him  and  obey  his  laws;  not  any  burdensome  services  or 
artificial  piety.  This  is  the  highest  divine  service:  "Fear  and 
love  of  God  and  of  his  laws."^ 

This  remarkable  chapter,  XXIX,  of  Maimonides'  Guide  con- 
cludes as  follows  "Our  Thora,  entirely,  its  root  and  center  and 
pivot,  tends  to  blot  out  those  (Sabaean)  notions,  and  expunges 
them  from  the  hearts  and  from  existence" :  "Their  altars  ye  shall 
destroy  and  their  sacred  trees  burn  in  fire,  let  their  name  perish.  . . 
Repeated  are  these  themes  in  many  places,  for  this  is  the  chief 
object,  followed  up  by  the  entire  Thora,  as  our  sages  have  in- 
formed us  in  interpreting  the  verse:  "What  God  has  commanded 
you  through  Moses"  they  say :  "This  teaches  that  whosoever  ac- 
knowledges idolatry,  denies  all  the  Thora,  and  whoever  denies 
idolatry  is  tantamount  to  acknowledging  the  entire  Sacred  Writ. 
Ponder  over  this.^ 

The  Thora  prescribed  (II  M.,  23,  7,  etc.)  but  three  yearly  fes- 
tivals when  the  Israelites  appear  with  their  offerings  at  the  na- 
tional Sanctuary,  There  shall  be  but  one  such  temple  in  the 
entire  land,  symbolizing  One  God,  one  nation,  one  creed,  and  no 
multiple  altars ;  the  Bomos,  bights,  altars  of  city,  house  and 
country,  were  prohibited,  as  leading  to  superstition  and  idol- 
worship.  The  law  ordained  but  one  national  temple  for  the 
entire  people,  with  comparatively  few  daily  offerings,  and  these 
were  meant,  not  as  food  for  God,  but  as  an  allowance  to  the 
priests  and  also  to  deter  man  from  sin.     It  allowed  no  room,  for 

.mi3y3  n^bnnn  nm  ,insn^i  in^nx  p-i  i 
iDian  bsi  ,n:^3  minn  ^i^n  nsisa  T"y"3  minr:  iS^l"   ...nis^von  pi 


POLYTEHISM   AND  ITS   POLITY.  151 

priest-craft,  no  mysteries,  orgies  and  bacchanalia;  no  unnatural, 
monastic  abstinences  and  no  sacred  debaucheries,  as  in  Phoenicia 
or  Babylonia.  The  Ihvh  service  was  short,  plain  and  chaste.  The 
law  insisted  upon  honest  dealings,  veracity,  purity,  charity  and 
very  little  upon  ceremony,  fasting,  vows,  castigations  and 
outward  observances.  The  few  ceremonials  remaining,  as 
sacrifices,  fringes,  phylactories,  were,  in  view  of  the  pervading 
symbolic  customs  of  the  times  elsewhere,  here  retained  as  simple 
memorials  of  purity,  or  origin  and  history,  or  of  Israel's  alle- 
giance to  Ihvh.  Mosaism  was  thus  a  reaction  against  the  super- 
stitious, obscene  and  cruel  cults,  the  daily  and  hourly  repeated 
gross  practices  of  the  heathens,  with  their  never-ending  temples, 
priests,  services,  observances,  oracles,  feasts  and  hosts  of  ceremo- 
nies, all  calculated  to  enslave,  terrorize,  exploit  and  stultify  the 
people,  for  the  sole  benefit  of  hierarch  and  king.  Mosaism  was 
a  protest  and  a  reform  against  polytheism  and  its  polity.  The 
Lawgiver  thus  put  his  chief  stress  and  accent  upon  the  extirpa- 
tion of  idolatry,  on  the  rejection  of  the  interminable,  stupid  prac- 
tices and  worships,  as  we  find  them  hugely  prevalent  among  the<, 
ancient  nations.  Such  practices  were  mere  contrivances,  snares 
and  stumbling  blocks,  alluring  to  superstition,  ignorance  and  ex- 
ploitation by  priest-  and  kingcraft;  to  cruelty,  debasement  and 
debauchery.  Remember  Jephta  sacrificing  his  daughter;  King 
Mesha,  his  son;  the  Moloch,  Baal  and  Ashtoreth  bloody  and  un- 
chaste cults.  All  the  prophets  identify  idolatry  with  superstition, 
cruelty,  infanticide  and  whoredom.  Ezekiel,  chap,  xvi,  is  especially 
drastic  on  this.  One  would  say  that  Mosaism  was  little  afraid 
of  infidelity  or  atheistic  tendencies  in  the  people.  That  there  is 
a  God,  Creator  and  Providence  is  self-evident,  to  whom,  readily 
enough,  man  takes  refuge  in  the  bitter  struggle  for  existence. 
But  that  there  is  but  one  God,  omnipresent  and  invisible;  that 
the  many  heathen  divinities  are  puerile  notions  and  priestcraft, 
shadows  or  wrong  conceptions  of  nature's  forces,  etc.,  such  reas- 
onings the  ignorant  do  not  see  so  plainly,  therefore  are  they 
much  inclined  towards  the  assumption  of  as  many  gods  as  single 
powers.  And  there  will  ever  be  plenty  of  cunning  men  to  exploit 
the  ignorant,  cater  to  such  false  notions  and  create  pseudo-priest- 
hoods, cults,  superstitions  and  immoralities.  Against  such  abuses 
the  Mosaic  lawgiver  turned  all  his  attention  and  energy,  threat- 
ening with  the  severest  punishments,  private  and  national,  the 


152  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

greatest  of  crimes,  polytheism,  idolatry.  Everywhere  else,  by  di- 
vine behest,  he  recommends  mercy,  toleration,  yea,  sympathy  for 
the  stranger,  the  non-Israelite,  even  the  Edomite  and  the  Egyp- 
tian. "Love  him  as  thyself,"  "for  strangers  ye  were  in  his  land." 
Such  is  Mosaic  sympathy. 

Elsewhere^  we  have  seen  at  large  the  broad,  liberal,  hu- 
manitarian spirit  pervading  the  Mosaic  laws  and  polity.  We 
need  not  search  far.  In  Exodus,  xxii,  20,  we  read :  "A 
stranger  thou  shalt  not  over-reach  or  oppress,  for  strangers 
you  were  in  Egypt — (xxiii,  9  :13)  .  .  .The  Stranger  thou  shalt 
not  oppress.  Ye  know  how  he  feels,  ye  were  strangers  in 
Egypt.  .  .On  the  Seventh  day  shall  recuperate  thy  slave  and  thy 
stranger — (V  M,  24..).  Never  wrong  thy  laborer,  whether 
thy  brother  or  a  stranger ...  Pay  him  before  sunset,  for  he  is 
poor  and  looks  up  to  thee  for  his  support.  .  .Do  not  bend  the  right 
of  the  stranger,  the  widow  and  the  orphan. .  .  When  thou  reapest 
thy  fields,  remember  the  stranger,  the  orphan  and  the  widow. .  . 
Remember,  thou  hast  been  a  slave  in  Egypt."  Here  are  verses, 
and  such  you  find  by  the  hundreds  in  the  Pentateuch,  which  you 
will  rarely  meet  in  ancient,  yea,  in  modern  legislations.  Nativism, 
the  social  distemper  of  even  our  present  twentieth  century  times, 
had  no  room  with  Moses.  Why  then  is  he  so  exceptionally  se- 
vere towards  the  clans  and  tribes  of  Khanaan?  But  one  thing 
explains  this  :  his  abomination  of  their  vices  and  the  fear  of  assimi- 
lation. His  severity  and  uncompromising  hostility  to  the  native 
Khanaanites  are  not  foreigner-hatred,  not  modern  race  prejudice, 
not  selfishness  dubbed  as  patriotism :  "Judaea  for  Judaeans." 
No,  it  is  explained  only  on  the  score  of  infection  and  contagion, 
the  fear  of  the  allurements  of  the  seductive  idolatry,  debauchery 
and  immorality  of  the  natives.  The  history  of  the  manners,  prac- 
tices and  cruelties  of  even  the  most  enlightened  nations  of  an- 
tiquity, proves  that  his  misgivings  were  well  founded,  he  aimed 
at  a  cordon,  a  quarantine  against  physical,  mental  and  moral 
contagion. 


1  Spirit  of  tlie  Biblical  Legislation. 


THE  LAW  OF  HEREDITY  AND  ENTAIL.  153 

(Exodus,  XX,  5.).  "Thou  shalt  not  bow  down  to,  nor  worship 
them  (the  false  gods),  for  I  am  a  zealous  God,  visiting  the  guilt 
of  the  fathers  upon  the  children,  to  the  third  and  the  fourth 
generations  of  those  (lawbreakers)  who  hate  Me,  and  am 
gracious  to  thousands  (of  generations)  of  those  who  love  Me 
and  keep  My  commandments."  After  the  foregoing  remarks, 
the  reader  will  easily  grasp  this  verse.  The  Lawgiver  must  hold 
up  the  severest  punishment  for  the  greatest  of  crimes,  idolatry, 
even  to  the  third  and  fourth  generations.  We  find  this  fre- 
quently repeated :  II  M.,  xxxiv,  7 — IV  M.,  xiv,  18,  etc.  Many 
who  overlooked  that,  found  our  text  exceedingly  severe,  yea, 
unbecoming  the  justice  and  mercifulness  of  the  Supreme  Arbiter: 
"Consider,  they  say,  the  God  of  love  of  Christianity,  and  the  God 
of  vengeance  of  Mosaism ;  the  one  forgives  the  actual,  repentant 
sinner,  the  other  entails  and  avenges  the  sins  even  upon  the  inno- 
cent children,  to  the  third  and  fourth  generations ;  there  is  a 
god  of  mercy  and  here  a  God  of  wrath!  Other  Christian  theo- 
logians, remembering  that  an  attack  upon  the  Pentateuch,  the 
Old  Testament,  profoundly  shakes  the  New  Testament  too,  reared 
upon  that  basis,  try  to  explain  our  text  by  their  Christian,  Paul- 
inian  doctrine  of  original  sin ;  they  say  that  here  is  alluded  to  that, 
to  the  sin  of  Adam  and  Eve,  their  disobedience  in  Paradise,  the 
divine  ire  enkindled  thereon,  and  the  curse  entailed  upon  their 
entire  posterity.  The  Original  Sin  is  at  the  bottom  of  this  harsh 
verse."  But  this  mystical,  theological,  oriental,  etc.,  explanation 
does  not  explain  at  all.  Our  next  text  says:  "God  visits  (remem- 
bers) the  guilt  to  the  third  and  fourth  generations — not  further, 
and  is  gracious  to  thousands  of  those  who  keep  the  divine  com- 
mandments." That  means:  Stern  justice.  Whilst  Original  Sin 
is  a  diabolic  injustice.  It  involves  a  curse  forever — for  right- 
eous and  unrighteous  alike.  Hence  we  are  constrained  to  seek 
for  another  clue  to  our  text  than  the  God  of  wrath  and  the 
"Original  Sin."  What  is  that  clue?  Examining  this  nucleus  of 
Mosaic  legislation,  as  in  this  very  pericope  of  Mishpatim  (II  M., 
chap.  20-24)  we  do  not  find  here  any  trace  of  an  entail  of  crime  to 
the  descendants  of  the  criminal.  The  criminal,  alone,  is  to  bear  his 
punishment — crime  and  punishment  are  personal ;  never  is  his  fam- 
ily involved  therein.  In  the  same  spirit  the  Talmud  excludes  any  tes- 
timony of  relatives  for  or  against  near  kin  (B.  Sanhedrin  27.  b). 


154  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

Whilst  we  know  well  that  in  ancient  Gentile  legislations  such  a 
responsibility  is  most  salient.     The   entire   family   was   held   as 
collateral  to  the  perpetrator.     That  was    a  recognzed    tenet    in 
criminal  and  political  jurisprudence,  even  to  be  saliently  found  in 
the  Codes  of  Hammurabi,  Persia,  Greece,  Rome  and  Germany. 
But  more,  V  M.,  xxiv,  16,  expressly  declares :  "The  fathers 
shall  not  die  for  their  children,  nor  the  children  for  their  fathers ; 
every  one  shall  suffer  for  his  own  guilt."     And  this  the  Talmud 
finely   stretches   to   mean   even   that   no   relatives   shall   ever   be 
called    upon   to   witness    against   his    kin.     Both    Scripture    and 
Talmud,  teach  just  and  humane,  legal  axioms,  towering  far  above 
the  codices  of  entire  antiquity.     Now  is  not  that  apparently  in 
flagrant  contradiction  to  "He  punishes  the  guilt  of  the  fathers  to 
the  third  and  fourth  generations"?     To  elucidate  this  theme,  let 
us  look  to  stern  facts  in  real  nature.    Do  the  defects  and  qualities 
of  parents  descend  to  their  posterity?     Are  innate  propensities 
hereditary,  entailed  upon  the  descendants?     Is  there  any  such  a 
natural  family-vendetta,  such  a  blood-solidarity?     Interrogating 
closely  the  facts  of  physiology,  biology,  botany,  zoology,  sociol- 
ogy, with  statistics  in  hand,  it  appears  that  the  law  of  heredity 
and  entail  is  such  an  iron  rule,  incontestable,  undeniable,  foi  good 
and  for  bad.   The  virtues  and  the  vices,  the  strong  and  the  weak 
features  of  the  parents  do  descend  upon  the  offspring.    The  race, 
family   and   parental   influence   is   powerful   upon   the   posterity. 
Nay,  some  claim  it  alone  powerful,  even  all-powerful ;  that  all 
the  properties  and  characteristics  of  the  offspring  are  to  be  sought 
and  found  in  the  seed,  the  root,  the  sires.     Darwin  believes  to 
have  shown  that  exceptional  traits  and  properties  of  one  bird,  if 
paired  carefully  and  diligently  kept  up  with  its  likes,  avoiding 
any  cross-breeding,  will  reproduce  and  perpetuate  the  same  char- 
acteristics in  the  offspring,  to  such  an  extent  as,  in  the  course  of 
time,  to  develop  a  new  genus.    And  Darwin's  'successors  believe 
even  that  this  proper  pairing  alone  is  sufficient  to  account  for  the 
diverse  species  and  races  differentiated,  by  such  selection,  from 
one  common  stock  of  ancestors,   far  different   from   their  late 
descendants.     Now  passing  from  physical  peculiarities  entailed 
by  descent,  to  mental  and  moral  ones,  we  find  them  less  sharply 
defined,  because  more  complicated,  still  showing  the  law  of  entail. 
Do  we  not  distinguish  strong,  alert,   spirited   races   and   stocks 
from   weak,   lazy  and   stupid   ones?     Are   not   drunkenness  and 


THE  LAW  OF  HEREDITY  AND  ENTAIL.  155 

lasciviousness,  just  as  bad  sight,  hearing,  breathing,  etc.,  as 
melancholy,  cruelty  and  madness  to  be  retraced  to  the  parents? 
Whilst  sobriety,  healthy  senses,  good  nature  and  cheerfulness, 
mentality,  sharpness  and  wit  are  the  same,  to  a  certain  extent, 
entailed  by  the  sire  upon  the  young.  Certain  like  dispositions 
of  the  body  induce  corresponding  moral  and  mental  ones  in  the 
offspring.  Thus  with  the  conception,  with  the  germ,  the  parent 
transmits  his  bodily  and  his  ethical  predispositions,  defects  and 
perfections,  vices  and  virtues,  bad  and  good  qualifications.  This 
is  the  law  of  heredity,  the  influence  of  entail.  Now,  the  human 
judge  can  not  peep  behind  the  curtains  of  creation,  therefore  he 
has  no  right  to  excuse  or  to  inculpate  anyone  on  the  score  of 
heredity.  Hence  the  positive  m.axim  of  Mosaism:  "The  parents 
shall  not  suffer  for  the  children,  nor  these  for  the  parents ;  every 
one  is  to  bear  the  punishment  of  one's  ov/n  short-comings."  But 
in  nature,  in  God's  own  realm,  we  do  find  that  law  of  universal 
solidarity,  of  family  and  racial  responsibility.  The  human  judge 
must  leave  that  out  from  his  testimony:  God,  the  Lord  of  na- 
ture, takes  it  well  into  his  account.  Hence  our  text :  "God  visits, 
by  entail,  the  sins  of  the  parents  upon  their  children."  This 
is  an  inexorable  axiom.  The  young  are  nothing  else  but  the 
renovated  parents,  but  the  development  of  the  seed,  hence  they 
suffer  for  or  enjoy  of  the  parental  advantages  and  disadvantages, 
just  as  an  apple  savors  of  the  root  and  the  tree  it  is  plucked 
from,   for  good   and   for  bad. 

This  law  of  descent  and  entail  has  but  recently  been  discovered. 
It  is  the  well  known  new  discovery  by  Darwin,  in  his  book  on 
the  "Descent  of  Man,"  showing-  up  heredity  in  nature,  that  the 
peculiarities,  proclivities  and  bents,  good  or  bad,  go  down  to 
posterity  and  would  be  forever  continued,  if  not  mitigated  and 
even  annulled  by  cross-fertilization  and  propagation  from  an- 
other stock,  which  destroys  the  original  drift  of  nature.  Now 
this  law  of  heredity  we  find  in  the  Ten  Commandments.  What 
our  naturalists  but  half  interview,  and  only  since  yesterday,  the 
Mosaic  Lawgiver  revealed  thousands  of  years  ago,  viz. :  that 
the  virtues  and  vices  of  the  root  are  to  be  found  in  the  tree, 
blossom  and  fruit.  We  have  seen  above  that  the  Hindu  philoso- 
phers also  half-guessed  this  stern  law  of  universal  solidarity  of 
man's  race,  yea,  they  claim,  of  all  creatures.  This  may  even  be 
the   philosophical   background   of   the    doctrine   of   original    sin, 


156  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

eighteen  centuries  ago,  propounded  by  Paul  from  East-Asian 
sources  and  grafted  upon  Christianity:  The  weakness  of  the 
race  cHngs  eternally  to  each  member  thereof.  But  he  took  it 
one-sided,  pessimistically.  In  truth,  the  original  virtues,  too,  of 
the  race  adhere  to  the  offspring.  The  offspring  is  simply  a  repro- 
duction, a  regeneration  of  the  sire,  for  good  and  for  evil,  physi- 
cally and  morally.  The  Hindu  explains  by  this  the  Origin  of 
Evil;  Paul  calls  it,  the  Original  Sin;  in  reality  it  is  the  original 
design  of  Providence.  It  is  the  habitus  of  existence,  the  working 
economy  of  nature,  the  bodily  and  ethical  continuity,  the  immor- 
tality of  the  race.  Everything  in  the  parents  is  reproduced  in  the 
offspring,  which  is  simply  a  rejuvenation  of  the  sires  in  every 
sense,  good  and  bad,  and  possibly  the  good  seeds  are  conditioned 
by  the  bad  ones. 

Long  before  Darwin  and  other  modern  naturalists,  Moses  and 
the  prophets,  all,  have  recognized  the  import  of  the  race  and  its 
influence  upon  its  individual  members.  The  holy  seed,  Zera 
qodesh,  is  again  and  again  accentuated  in  the  Bible  as  of  para- 
mount importance.  We  are  apt  to  think  this  a  notion  of  prejudice 
and  racial  self-complacency.  It  may  be  solid  acquired  experi- 
ence. The  Greek  and  the  Roman  world,  too,  termed  all  other 
nations,  barbarian;  but  later  this  was  deemed  mere  prejudice, 
derived  from  overweaned  selfishness.  Now  come  our  most 
modern  naturalists  and  stolidly  emphasize,  yea,  exaggerate  its 
importance.  Mosaism  holds  the  middle  course.  Race  is  impor- 
tant, but  it  is  not  alone  important.  Education  and  principle  are 
even  more  important.  It  rejects  the  Khanaanites,  not  on  account 
of  race,  but  of  idolatry,  inchastity. 

BIBLICAL  OPTIMISM. 

Behold  the  moderation  of  the  optimism  of  the  Mosaic  Law- 
giver, Contemplating  the  evident  and  uninterrupted  solidarity 
of  the  racial  units  in  nature,  and  stating  the  severe  fact  that: 
"God  avenges  the  sins  of  the  fathers  upon  the  children,"  he 
qualifies  that :  "To  the  third  and  fourth  generation" — no  further. 
"But  he  bestows  grace  to  a  thousand  generations  of  those  who 
keep  the  divine  Law."  Here  is  the  Mosaic  serene  outlook,  its 
optimism,  the  hopefulness  and  buoyancy  characteristic  of  the 
monotheistic  viewpoint.  Vice  and  guilt  are  to  be  traced  down 
to  the  third  and  fourth  generations,  then  they  are  eliminated, 


BIBLICAL  OPTIMISM.  157 

self-destroying.  Virtue,  the  good,  ever  increases  and  is  entailed 
upon  the  descendants  to  a  thousand  generations,  i,  e.,  lives 
forever. 

Evil  is  self-consuming,  the  good  is  and  remains  perpetually. 
This  is  inherent  in  the  very  being  of  the  good  and  the  bad.  They 
are  primordially  so  constituted  that  the  good  is  permanent  and 
propagating,  the  bad  is  barren  and  finally  decays.  It  has  its 
effects,  goes  on  for  a  while,  and  if  not  corrected  and  eliminted,  it 
destroys,  as  a  virus,  or  cancer,  the  body  on  which  it  festers.  It 
dies  or  it  kills,  but  it  does  not  stay.  This  is  deep  in  the  economy 
of  providential  nature.  In  conformity  with  the  biblical  view,  this 
is  represented,  not  as  a  dead  law,  but  as  the  living  law,  the  be- 
nignity of  the  law  (II  M.,  xxxiv.,  6)  :  "Ihvh,  Ilwh,  God  of  love 
and  grace,  long-suffering,  merciful  and  truthful,  reserving  His 
grace  to  thousands  (of  generations),  patient  of  sin  and  rebellion, 
not  cleansing  the  unclean  (sin  must  be  atoned  and  not  gratui- 
tously remitted),  visiting  the  guilt  of  the  sires  upon  the  descend- 
ants, to  the  third  and  fourth  generations."  It  is  admirable  how 
the  Lawgiver  reconciles  the  justice  of  God  with  His  mercy: 
With  a  deep  psychological  insight,  he  penetrates  the  secret  work- 
ings of  nature,  which  is  forbearing  yet  exact,  patient  yet  inex- 
orable, reproducing  that  immutable  law  as  primordially  abiding  in 
God,  long-suffering  yet  avenging  wrong,  misericordious,  yet 
strictly  just,  therefore  punishing  evil  for  three  to  four  genera- 
tions, but  rewarding  virtue  to  a  thousand — for  ever  and  aye ! 

And  this  too  we  may  verify  in  fact.  The  gangrene  of  vice 
goes  on  but  for  one,  two,  or  three  generations,  during  which  it 
must  be  eliminated  or  it  destroys  the  individuals  infected  by  it. 
It  is  killed  or  it  kills.  Children  of  vicious  parents  must  make  an 
effort,  expel  and  eradicate  the  fatal  propensity ;  or,  if  they  yield,  it 
increases  in  virulence  and  destroys  themselves.  Heredity  is  the 
natural  bent.  As  in  a ,  dangerous  declivity  we  must  make  an 
effort  and  stop,  or  we  are  hurried  down  the  precipice  and  dashed 
to  pieces ;  even  so,  our  vices  ;  if  not  stopped,  they  destroy  posterity, 
and  the  family  or  race  becomes  extinct.  Hence  our  text :  "Vice 
goes  down  to  the  third  and  fourth  generations."  Only  those  ful- 
filling the  divine  laws  of  their  own  nature,  will  stay.  Vice  anni- 
hilates itself,  virtue  alone  is  perpetual  :  Here  is  the  monotheistic 
optimism :    God  is  just,  but  merciful.     His  universe  is  guided  by 


158  RABBIS  ON  THAT 

both,  justice  and  mercy.^  The  Decalogue  and  the  thirteen  divine 
attributes^  teach  it  aHke,  illustrating  the  lesson :  Parents,  beware 
of  evil  propensities ;  they  harm  you,  the  individual  and  the 
posterity. 

In  an  ingenious  parallel  way,  the  rabbis  discuss  our  theme  (B. 
Sanhedrin  27.  b)  :  "We  read  (V  M.,  xxiv,  16)  :  "The  fathers 
shall  not  die  for  their  children,"  etc.  Wherefore  this  repetition.  . 
since  we  know  that  (Ibid.)  :  "Everyone  dies  by  his  own  sin"? 
And  they  interpret  circuitously :  "That  means,  that  parents  should 
not  die  by  the  testimony  of  their  children  (the  testimony  by  and 
against  one's  near  relatives).  But  is  written  (Ibid).  "He 
visits  the  guilt  of  the  fathers  upon  the  children"?  That  takes 
place  when  the  children  persist  in  the  bad  habits  of  the  fathers.  .  . 
for  it  is  said :  "Each  dies  by  his  own  sin" — The  children  are 
punished  for  their  sire's  sins,  only  then,  v/hen  fatally  propagating 
them". .  .So  it  is  written  (III  M.,  xxvi.,  37)  :  "They  shall  stum- 
ble each  through  his  brother,"  that  means,  through  the  bad  ex- 
ample of  his  brother,  because  men  are  responsible  for  each  other, 
since  they  should  have  forewarned  them  and  they  did  not." — The 
rabbis  try  to  conciliate  here  the  apparently  contradictory  verses, 
by  the  ingenious  suggestion  of  the  (Mitschuld)  competitive,  cum- 
ulative guilt  and  by  the  mutual  solidarity  of  the  members  of  the 
same  society.  Naturally,  the  bent  for  the  weakness  of  the  par- 
ents is  entailed  upon  us.  But  we  are  not  compelled  to  follow 
such  inclinations;  we  are  morally,  psychically  free,  we  can  and 
should  resist  them,  and  resisting  we  shall  vanquish  them.  When 
lazily  yielding  to  the  fatal  proclivity,  we  double  its  virulence  and 
it  fiercely  overpowers  us,  until,  at  last,  it  destroys  our  sinful  pos- 
terity. This  ingenious  way  of  reconciling  the  apparently  con- 
tradictory verses,  shows  that  the  rabbis  guessed  part  of  present 
natural  science  and  social  science,  the  import  of  race  or  heredi- 
tary influence  and  men's  mutual  responsibility.  The  law  of 
heredity  and  natural  entail  makes  the  naturalist  a  fatalist  and 
pessimist,  lazily  giving  up  the  battle  before  it  is  fought.  If  all 
in  the  offspring  comes  from  the  sire,  if  all  of  the  parent  goes 


iSee  ]\Iaimonides  Guide,  III  part,  52,  end,  commenting  on  the  verse: 
"I  am  doing  mercy,  justice  and  love  on  earth,"  and  showing  con- 
clusively that,  practically  and  theoretically,  a  priori  and  a  posteriori, 
Providence  rules  in  love,  mercy  and  justice. 

2Exod.  34.6,  the  thirteen  divine  attributes  or  midoth. 


RABBIS  ON  THAT.  159 

down  to  the  child,  wherefore  should  the  young  generation  work, 
fight,  cultivate,  strive  for  good  and  react  against  evil  inclina- 
tions ?  Such  reasoning  is  fatalism,  viz. :  we  are  what  we  are, 
born  to  and  for  it;  no  use  struggling  against  mighty  nature; 
indeed,  as  little  as  struggling  against  the  lightning.  That  is 
vis  major.  The  best  is  to  submit  with  stolid  resignation ;  for  we 
can  neither  improve  nor  spoil  what  is  once  rooted  in  us !  That 
is  oriental  fataHsm:  But  the  Bible  rejects  that  (V.  M.,  ii  and  30). 
"Behold,  I  have  placed  before  thee  life  and  good,  death  and 
evil :  choose !"  How  then  shall  we  mediate  in  the  fatal  trend 
of  the  innate  impulses  of  hereditary  entail,  and  the  spontaneous 
choice  of  the  truly  good?  By  the  plenary  exercises  of  our  hu- 
mane autonomy,  by  our  free,  strong  volition  in  that  limited 
margin  as  the  benign  Creator  has  allowed  us.  Limited  as  this 
our  free  will  is,  it  is  sufficient  to  allow  us  a  free  selection  be- 
tween right  and  wrong.  And  this  freedom  will  be  confirmed 
by  our  experience.  No  doubt  the  nature  of  our  parents  is  deeply 
implanted  in  ours :  But  are  we  for  that  its  slaves  ?  Can  Vv-e  not 
react,  improve,  correct,  better  it?  By  all  means!  Nature  is 
powerful,  but  not  all-powerful  upon  man.  We  can  react  and 
reform,  if  we  will.  Look  to  facts :  Are  all  the  virtues  of  the 
sire  descending  upon  the  offspring?  Do  v»'e  not  daily  see  excel- 
lent parents  of  worthless  children,  and  a  fine  issue  from  mean 
sires?  Are  the  children  of  great  fathers  ever  great?  By  no 
means !  Very  often  the  very  contrary  takes  place.  Genius  is  rarely 
hereditary.  How,  then,  can  we  reconcile  the  law  of  heredity 
with  our  daily  experience  ?  The  answer  is :  Nature  works  by 
multiple  channels  and  factors,  not  by  simple  ones.  We  are  such 
or  such,  not  by  one  reason  and  cause,  but  by  a  hundred.  We 
are  good  or  bad,  noble  or  mean,  ignorant  or  learned,  strong  or 
weak,  rich  or  poor  for  m.any  reasons.  Each  cause  separately 
contributed  to  the  result.  Often  even  these  many  factors  run 
in  contrary  directions,  for  and  against,  they  cross  or  corroborate, 
annul  or  assist  each  other,  counterbalance  and  cancel,  or  dupli- 
cate and  increase  their  respective  influences.  Only  the  balance 
of  power  remains,  the  residue  after  the  counter-effort  is  de- 
ducted. Hence  comes  the  difficulty  to  clearly  show  each  cause 
of  each  effect,  because  there  are  many  effects  of  many  crossing 
causes.  There  are  some  apparent  causes,  but  many  secret  ones 
intervene,  cancel,  modify,  change  and  thus  entangle  the  problem. 


i6o  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

No  doubt  the  parents  have  great  influence,  but  cHmate,  food, 
education,  surroundings,  example,  habits,  personal  tastes  else- 
where contracted,  change,  modify  and,  not  seldom,  annul  the 
home  influence  with  the  original  bent.  A  practically  successful 
father,  will  be  imitated  by  his  children ;  a  luckless  one  neglected, 
and  thus  his  profession,  views  and  tastes,  respectively,  embraced 
or  discarded. 

HISTORY  SHOWS  FREE  WILL. 

Abimelech  was  so  unlike  his  father,  Gideon.  Pious  Eli's  sons 
were  abominably  wicked.  The  sons  of  the  popular  prophet  and 
ruler,  Samuel,  were  abhorred  and  shunned  by  the  people.  How 
unlike  was  the  learned  and  effeminate  Solomon  to  his  father, 
the  enthusiastic,  pious  and  warlike  David?  And  how  unlike  to 
either  were  their  progeny?  Mathatias  Hasmonoy  and  his  five 
valiant  sons  easily  showed  the  identity  of  their  stock;  but  their 
successors  degenerated,  even  to  mediocrity.  Antipater  and  his 
sons,  Phasael  and  Herod,  appear  great  in  comparison  to  the  later 
Maccabean  princes  and  their  own  as  well  as  their  hybrid  pos- 
terity. Alexander  of  Macedonia  wept  at  the  victories  of  his 
father,  Philip,  "leaving  nothing  for  him  to  accomplish."  Still 
room  was  left  for  him  to  conquer  the  Persian  world-empire.  But 
his  premonition  was  verified,  his  mother  and  children,  his  dynasty 
and  house  all  soon  perished  ignominiously.  Caesar  and  Augustus 
were  great,  yet  degeneration  began  even  -with  Tiberius.  Ves- 
pasian and  Titus  were  followed  by  the  contemptible  Domitian, 
Hiero  of  Syracuse  by  the  despicable  Hieronymus  (200  A.  C), 
proving  the  same  theory  of  degeneration  after  strong  parents. 
The  Frank,  Pepin  of  Herestal,  Charles  Martel  and  Charlemagne 
showed  up  the  rare  example  of  three  generations  of  great  men; 
but  their  posterity,  still  masters  of  the  terrestrial  globe,  greatly 
degenerated.  Only  one  Bourbon,  Henry  IV.,  was  great,  and 
only  one  Napoleon  Bonaparte.  None  of  their  posterity  came  up 
to  the  sire.  That  seems  well  to  be  the  rule  in  psychology  and  in 
history:  Great  men  have  rarely  great,  bodily  successors,  as  if 
God  deprecated  an  aristocracy  of  genius.  The  decay  begins  first 
morally,  next  mentally,  last  physically,  the  race  becomes  extinct. 
Too  much  greatness,  success,  applause,  adulation  and  luxurious- 
ness,  spoil,  overwean,  corrupt  and  at  last  destroy.  The  virtues 
and  energies  of  the  fathers  are  obliterated  and  lost,  their  vices 


HISTORY  SHOWS  FREE  WILL.  i6i 

multiply,  overgrow  and  stifle  them.  Why  then  this  contra- 
diction? The  law  of  heredity,  physically,  and  the  parallel  the  law 
of  degeneracy,  ethically  and  mentally?  To  all  appearances,  be- 
cause physical,  psychical,  ethical,  educational  and  sociological 
laws,  too,  are  here  at  work;  hence  a  complication  of  influences, 
pro  and  contrary,  resulting  from  diverse  crossing  and  cumula- 
tive factors  which  we  can  not  retrace  and  disentangle.  Not  only 
parents  form  the  mental  and  ethical  idyosyncrasy  of  their  child, 
but  a  hundred  factors  besides,  and  these  complex  causes  have 
their  complex  effects.  So  history  tells  us  the  fact  that  Domitian 
was  a  Flavian,  but  not  the  causes  why  he  was  so  dissimilar  to 
his  father  and  his  brother — the  Flavians.  In  fact,  it  is  very  hard 
for  children  of  great  men  not  to  appear  in  history  as  inferior  to 
their  sires.  Already  the  close  neighborhood  and  the  challenging 
comparison  are  dangerous..  .It  is  for  this  that  Alexander  wept 
at  the  victories  of  his  father.  The  fate  of  his  children  and 
dynasty  proved  the  correctness  of  his  misgivings,  incorrect  only 
by  a  single  generation.  Again,  great  men  are  called  forth  mostly 
by  extraordinary  environments,  opportunities  and  efforts ;  and  these 
are  usually  wanting  to  their  children.  These  lack  the  opportunity, 
the  stimulus  and  the  noble  ambition.  They  lazily  rest  upon  the 
laurels  of  the  fathers.  For  them  there  is  no  poverty  and  want, 
no  detractions,  and  no  ambition  to  urge  them  on,  as  happily  their 
great  predecessors  had.  But  they  have  flatterers,  debauchery  and 
luxuriance  to  effeminate  and  weaken  them.  Above  all,  they  lack 
the  historical,  social  and  political  opportunity.  Not  every  day 
needs  the  world  great  men,  and  when  they  still  come,  they  are  in 
the  way  and  ostracised,  as  in  Greece.  Their  father  has  done  all 
and  nothing  is  left  for  them  to  do.  Their  father  worked  and 
acquired;  they  enjoy  and  waste;  small,  rich  children  of  a  great, 
poor  father !  The  sire's  virtues  and  qualities,  his  health,  frugality, 
self-restraint,  rapid,  solid  work,  make-shift,  inventiveness,  self- 
reliance,  quick  perception,  initiative,  enthusiasm,  emulation,  elas- 
ticity, self-sacrifice,  will-power,  noble  striving,  all  that  is  mostly 
lost  to  the  easy-going  offspring.  Their  atmosphere  is  quite  an- 
other, surfeit  and  luxuriance  and  effiminacy !  In  such  a  soil  those 
virtues  do  as  little  thrive  as  oranges  in  Iceland.  Whilst  all  the 
ancestor's  native  weaknesses,  frailties,  vices,  ever  commensurate 
with  his  virtues,  but  restrained,  luckily,  and  held  in  the  back- 
ground, in  abeyance,  by  his   wide-awake   opponents,   find   their 


i62  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

fell  and  fatal  outlet  in  the  present,  altered  situation,  and  rich, 
tempting  environments.  The  father's  sins  are  thus  abundantly  en- 
tailed upon  the  poor  and  denuded,  spoiled  and  over-lucky  children. 
Hence  the  law  of  entail  has  its  exceptions.  No  fatalism  and  no 
despairing  misgivings.  There  is  such  a  law,  but  there  are  many 
others  crossing  it,  which  cancel  each  other  and  leave  room  for 
free-will  and  effort.  Birth,  seed  and  root  are  much,  but  not  all. 
The  parents'  good  and  bad  qualities  are  in  germ  deposited  in  the 
temper  of  the  child.  But  there  are  other  factors,  too,  at  play. 
Now  choose,  cultivate  and  inaugurate  the  virtues,  restrain  and 
uproot  the  vices.  These  will  dwindle  and  disappear  within  three 
to  four  generations;  while  the  bright  sides  will  be  strengthened 
and  increased  and  bring  out  a  prosperous  race.  The  gradual  im- 
provement of  the  human  kind  proves  the  correctness  of  this  view, 
hinted  at  in  our  texts,  Biblical  and  rabbinical. .  .  No  fataHsm  thus ! 
There  is  inclination,  but  not  compulsion  to  follow  the  bent  of 
heredity.  \Vill-power,  good  habits,  precepts,  examples  and  prin- 
ciples will  correct  bad  seed.  The  Bible  claims  that  within  the 
limits  of  the  universal  law,  of  primordial  necessity,  man  enjoys 
a  certain  margin  of  free  will  and  liberty,  and  that  miargin  is  suffi- 
cient to  choose  one's  course  and  be  master  of  one's  own  fate ;  and 
human  consciousness  corroborates  this  belief  in  our  freedom  of 
will.i 

THIRD  COMMANDMENT.     THE  OATH. 

The  Third  Commandment  solemnly  completes  and  closes  the 
first  part  of  the  Decalogue :  "Thou  shalt  not  utter  the  name  of 
Ihvh,  thy  God,  falsely,  for  Ihvh  will  not  let  him  go  unpunished 
who  will  utter  His  name  falsely .^  In  primitive  times,  honest, 
naive,  unsophisticated  man  invoked  the  holy  name  out  of  venera- 
tion and  piety,  or  to  affirm  and  aver  claims  unproven,  by  an 
appeal  to  the  Deity,  calling  on  it  to  witness  to  the  truthfulness  of 
his  affirmation.  No  doubt,  as  custom  gradually  makes  law,  an 
oath,  an  attest  by  the  Deity,  soon  was  admitted  as  a  semi-legal 
proof  and  a  juridical  means  in  litigation  for  settling  contestations. 
This  custom  and  this  law  we  find  among  all  ancient  nations.  The 
laws  of  Hammurabi,  of  the  Roman  and  the  Greek  Codes  use 
such.    The  plain  expression  of  our  text  shows  it  as  an  acknowl- 


iSee  Maimonides  Yad  Mada,  on  this  theme. 

NVJO  elsewhere  npEJ'  2 


THIRD  COMMANDMENT.     THE  OATH.  163 

edged  mode  of  proving  claims.  This  gave  rise  to  different 
modes  of  using  and  abusing  the  divine  name  in  common  inter- 
course. One  abused  it  on  vain  and  frivolous  occasions  by  idle 
swearing;  another  in  blasphemous,  boisterous,  inaccurate  affirma- 
tions; then  in  averring  by  it  actual  falsehoods,  telling  lies  and 
hypocritically  calling  God  to  witness  to  them ;  finally  came  the 
legal  and  juridical  oath  to  settle  contests  of  litigants.  The  Third 
Commandment  solemnly  warns  against  these  several  modes  of 
abusing  the  hallowed  name  of  the  Deity.  It  does  not  prohibit  its 
honest  uses.  It  desires  only  to  spare  and  limit  it  to  rare,  truthful, 
judicial  and  important  occasions,  as  a  means  to  discover  unproven 
truth.  The  word  Slwv  covers  this.  At  first,  it  means:  vain; 
next,  frivolous,  uncalled  for;  finally,  falsely.  "Do  not  bear, 
or  utter,  the  divine  Name,  in  any  of  these  ways;  reserve  it  for 
veracious,  solemn  and  weighty  opportunities,  to  certify  and  at- 
test honest  affirm.ations,  for  God  will  not  let  go  unpunished  him 
who  will  abuse  of  His  holy  name."  As  the  oath  was  and  is  used 
in  cases  not  possible  to  prove  otherwise,  or  not  easily  provable, 
so  the  lawgiver  forewarns  that  perjury  \\\\\  be  punished  by  God 
who,  omniscient,  ever  knows  the  hidden  facts. .  .  Thus  the  oath 
seems  to  have  been  extensively  used  and  misused  at  all  times,  as 
a  pious  invocation,  as  an  idle  prattling,  as  a  vulgar  vociferation, 
as  an  honest  affirmation,  and  as  a  legal  testimony,  a  judicial  proof 
before  the  courts  of  justice.  So  III  ]\I.,  19 :12  ordains :  "Ye 
shall  not  swear  falsely  by  My  name."  As  a  legal  proof  it  is  men- 
tioned in  III  M.,  v.,  1,  22,  23— IV  AI.,  v.,  19— V  M.  xxii.  9  10  etc. 
It  ordains  to  swear  by  God's  name  in  V  M.  vi.,  13-15.  Whilst 
swearing  by  that  of  other  gods  is  a  heinous  crime,  accounted  as 
idolatry  and  warned  against  by  all  the  prophets.  The  custom  pre- 
vails to  this  day:  "By  God!"  "Herr  Ye!"  "By  iMohammed!" 
Such  is  the  tenacity  of  inherited  views  and  habits ;  man  will  con- 
tinue lying  and  perjuring. 

In  case  of  perjury  the  law  ordaineth  public  confession,  resti- 
tution of  the  damage  with  a  fifth  part  over  and  above  it,  and  the 
offering  of  a  sacrifice  in  the  Temple  (III  M.,  v.,  22)..  .It  is  ex- 
tensively treated  by  Philo.  De  Decal.,  756;  and  in  the  entire 
Babylonian  treatise  Shebuoth.  There,  page  39a,  it  is  said  that 
at  the  proclamation  of  that  Third  Commandment  the  entire  world 
trembled,  in  consciousness  of  its  transgression.  The  Talmud 
adm.its  the  oath  as  a  half-proof,  and  onlv  in  absence  of  witnesses. 


i64  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

The  claimant  has  the  burden  of  the  proof.^  It  divides  it  in: 
Firstly :  idle,  meaningless,  vain  swearing,  Shebuath  Bitui;  second : 
frivolous  lying  with  unholy  swearing,  Shebuath  Shov  or  Shaker; 
thirdly:  affirmation  of  a  claim  and  honest  entrusting,  Shebuath 
piqudin;  fourthly:  the  oath  of  testimony,  averration  before  a 
court  of  justice,  Shebuath  Eduth.^  See  Maimonides  Yad,  M. 
Th.  Hilchoth,  Shebuoth  I.  and  XL,  1,  etc.— B.  Shebuoth  29b.  in- 
flicts the  punishment  of  30  stripes  (malquth)  upon  wilful  perjury. 
Cicero  (Leges.  II,  9)  as  also  Homer  frequently  mention  perjury 
to  be  punished  by  the  Gods,  Zeus  himself  being  the  guardian  of 
oaths  and  avenger  of  perjury. 

Following  the  Hebraic  Bible  and  ancient  custom,  modern  legis- 
lation admits  often  the  testimony  of  an  oath  at  court,  but  only 
half-heartedly,  correctly  feeling  that  parties  in  litigation  do  not 
shrink  from  invokng  God's  name  in  vain,  yea  even  in  flagrant  de- 
fiance of  the  truth.  So,  unfortunately,  the  witnesses  of  both  the 
litigants  are  sworn  in  before  giving  testimony,  each  side  claiming 
facts  diametrically  opposite  to  one  another,  one  of  them  necessarily 
lying !  The  Agada  already  was  fully  aware  of  that  and  dissuaded 
from  going  to  law  as  beguiling  into  perjury.^  When  at  eighteen 
years  of  age  my  guardian  swore  away  my  inheritance,  holding  a 
scroll  of  the  Law  in  both  his  arms,  one  of  the  bystanders,  knowing 
the  facts,  sarcastically  remarked  to  him:  "What  an  excellent 
Thora?  Is  it  not?  You  owed  that  money,  now  you  owe  no 
longer! — It  would  be  time  the  legal  oath  should  be  abolished 
altogether  from  a  judicious  court.  The  judge  knows,  people  at 
litigation  lie.  Still  the  mummery,  the  blasphemy,  the  impudent 
fraud  goes  on  and  ruins  all  conscience  and  remorse.  If  the  con- 
testants hide  the  truth  without  an  oath,  the  oath,  with  the  Bible 
in  hands,  will  not  make  them  reveal  it.  Our  modern  legislators 
should  mind  the  Third  Commandment:  "Bear  not  the  name  of 
God  in  vain."  The  legal  oath  should  be  abolished,  it  proves 
nothing  but  frivolity. 


nny  nynE>  ,])ip'^  nynt'  ,sit'  r\v)2^'  .^in^a  nynK'  2 

3So  Jesus  dissuaded  from  going  to  law  and  any  manner  of  oath, 
that  was  Agadic,  Essenian  ethics  and  psychologically  perfectly  true. 


Study  F.— THE  SABBATH  OF  THE  DECALOGUE     165 

The  Fourth  Commandment  of  the  Decalogue  is  (H  M.,  xx.,  9)  : 
"Remember  the  Sabbath-day  to  sanctify  it.  Six  days  shalt  thou 
labor  and  do  all  thy  work,  but  the  Seventh  day  is  a  rest  to  Ihvh, 
thy  God.  Thou  shalt  not  do  any  work ;  thou  and  thy  son  and  thy 
daughter,  thy  male  and  female  slave,  thy  cattle  and  the  stranger 
within  thy  gates,  for  within  six  days  Ihvh  has  made  heaven  and 
earth,  the  sea  and  all  in  them,  and  rested  on  the  seventh  day. 
Therefore  Ihvh  blessed  the  Sabbath  day  and  sanctified  it."  The 
closing  verses  apparently,  refer  to  Genesis  ii.,  1-4:  "On  the 
seventh  day  Elohim  had  completed  his  work  and  he  rested  on  the 
seventh  day,  wherefore  he  blessed  and  sanctified  it."  V  M.,  v., 
12-15,  repeats  with  some  change  i^  Observe  the  Sabbath  day  to 
sanctify  it,  as  Ihvh,  thy  God,  has  bidden  thee".  .  .that  thy  male 
and  female  slave  may  rest  as  thyself.  And  thou  shalt  remember 
that  a  slave  thou  hast  been  in  Egypt  and  Ihvh  has  brought  thee  out 
from  there  with  a  mighty  arm,  "therefore  He  bade  thee  to  observe 
the  Sabbath  day."  Whilst  II  M.,  xxiii.,  12,  condenses :  "During 
six  days  thou  shalt  perform  thy  labors  and  on  the  seventh  day 
thou  shalt  rest,  that  thy  ox  and  thy  ass  may  rest,  and  that  the 
son  of  thy  female  slave  and  the  stranger  may  recuperate."  Here 
are  the  leading  texts  concerning  the  Sabbath,  which  are  most  nu- 
merous in  the  Pentateuch,  the  Prophets  and  the  Hagiographers. 
They  are  repeated  again  and  again,  nearly  as  often  as  the  para- 
mount doctrine  of  the  Unity  and  spirituality  of  the  Deity.  As 
monotheism  is  the  chief  doctrine  of  Mosaism,  so  is  the  Sabbath  its 
main  practical  institution,  enjoined  with  almost  the  same  solem- 
nity, reiteration  and  insistence  as  the  first.  The  lawgiver  spares 
no  tim.e,  place,  opportunity  or  inducements  to  strengthen,  uphold 
and  impress  it  upon  the  minds  and  the  veneration  of  his  follow- 
ers. Its  observance  is  accompanied  by  the  greatest  promise  of 
worldly  and  spiritual  welfare  and  its  infraction  is  threatened  with 
divine  wrath  and  human  death  penalty.  It  is  termed  the  Sign  of 
the  Mosaic  Covenant,  0th  BerifJi.  And  that  is  not  simply  a 
symibol,  an  outward  emblem  of  a  certain  idea  or  a  historical  remi- 
niscence, as  for  instance  the  sign  of  the  covenant  with  Abraham. 


li^L".  in  II  M.  20  it  reads:  113?    ^ 


i66  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

or  with  Noah.i  No,  it  is  the  great  practical  and  reahstic  establish- 
ment of  Mosaism,  characterizing  Jewish  perennial  life.  A  Jew 
observes  the  Sabbath-day  and  believes  in  the  One  God  in  Spirit. 
We  have  largely  and  elaborately  treated  of  that  great,  Mosaic, 
settled  order  in  a  previous  volume,^  and  refer  the  reader  thereto. 
There  we  have  seen  that  the  Sabbath  is  the  symbol  of  Mosaism 
in  the  most  exalted  and  pregnant  sense.  It  is  not  merely  a  sign, 
standing  for  a  tenet  or  a  doctrine;  no,  it  is  its  very  object  and 
foundation.  It  is  a  social,  religious  and  humanitarian  institution,  of 
the  grandest  dimensions  and  far-reaching  results.  It  is  the  ground- 
work and  base  of  the  Mosaic  religion,  civilization,  people  and 
state,  expanding  to  the  utmost  bounds.  We  have  surveyed  there 
the  immense  spread  of  that  establishment :  three  hundred  millions 
of  Christians  and  four  hundred  millions  of  Mohammedans,  ac- 
cepted and  imitated  it.  Philosophers,  political  economists,  social- 
istic leaders,  radical  cosmopolitan  thinkers  cannot  do  away  with  it, 
and  recognize  the  practical  urgent  usefulness  of  a  periodical  rest- 
day.  Jewish  mysticism,  the  Agada,  Medraschim  and  Qabbala  are 
fond  of  it.  Its  glorification  passed  even  into  the  common  parlance 
and  daily  prayerbook.  The  Sabbath  is  a  household  word  of  civili- 
zation. Poetry  and  mysticism  bestow  on  it  the  most  endearing 
epithets:  It  is  the  "bride,"  "princess,"  "queen  of  Israel:"  Come, 
my  friend,  let  us  go  to  meet  the  bride,  let  us  welcome  the  presence 
of  the  Sabbath.^  One  of  the  greatest  modern  poets  of  Jewish 
genius  and  birth,  based  upon  that  a  most  charming  fairy-tale, 
strikingly  depicting  its  refreshing  influence  upon  individuals  and 
the  people,  especally  the  down-trodden  Jew  of  by-gone  ages :  "A 
prince  born  in  the  purple  is  by  malice  and  witchcraft  degraded  and 
changed  into  a  canine  beast,  a  brute  with  brutish  instincts  and 
habits,  a  mean  animal,  fawning,  snarling  and  sneaking  at  the  mas- 
ter's feet,  licking  the  hand  that  tenders  him  a  morsel  of  meat, 
bowang  and  dancing,  grumbling  and  barking  alternately  for  a 
consideration,  feeding  on  carrion,  from  every  dunghill,  in  all  the 
public  places.  Such  he  passes  during  the  six  week  days.  But 
when  Friday  eve  arrives,  lo !  a  princess  appears,  mysterious,  fair, 
lovely  as  the  moon.     She  appears  with  her  wand  in  hand.     She 


.  (1  M.  9.13)  nt>p  —    1  M.  17.13)  n^^D —  II  M.  31.13)  nns  n1^«  ^ 

aSpirit  of  the  Bible  Legislation,  p.  13. 

SAssumed  by  Jeh  Halevy,  Sabbath  ritual  hymn.  n^D  Jli^np^  "'111  n3^ 


THE  SABBATH  OF  THE  DECALOUGE.        167 

nods  and  smiles,  and  the  malicious  spell  is  broken,  the  barking 
dog  is  again  a  king,  a  king  with  royal  pride  and  dignity,  with 
generous  sentiments  and  noble  thoughts,  every  inch  a  king.  And 
the  re-instated  royalty  puts  on  the  regalia.  Crown  on  head  and 
scepter  in  hand,  he  woos  and  marries  the  mysterious  fairy-prin- 
cess." The  parable,  sad,  sweet  and  charming  is  easy  to  under- 
stand. The  king  degraded  into  a  barking  brute  is  Israel,  once 
sovereign  of  fair  Judaea,  degraded  by  tyranny  and  sophistry,  since 
Pompeius,  Titus  and  Hadrian,  to  the  very  middle  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, aye,  to  this  very  day,  by  priest  and  Cossack,  by  cruel  perse- 
cutions, slander,  misunderstanding  and  fanaticism,  into  a  barking 
dog.  And  the  mysterious  princess  who  arrives  once  weekly,  weds 
him,  and  restores  him  to  his  antique  dignity,  to  the  principality  of 
mind,  is  the  Sabbath-day. 

Sabbath  it  was  that  for  nearly  18  centuries  broke  the  chains  of 
the  enslaved,  gagged  and  benighted  Ghetto-Jew  and  made  him 
again  a  prince  in  the  domain  of  character.  During  those  long  cen- 
turies when  baron  and  bishop  were  crude,  illiterate,  he  alone  was 
educated.  Do  you  remember  the  happy,  bright,  glorious  Sabbath- 
eve  and  morning,  a  generation  or  two  ago,  beyond  the  Atlantic? 
What  toil  and  drudgery,  what  agony  and  wretchedness  during 
the  preceding  six  weekly  days,  and  what  consolation  and  cheer, 
hopefulness  and  holiness  on  the  Sabbath ;  the  Sabbath-eve  with  its 
blessed  lights,  the  consecrated  table,  the  white  loaves,  the  blessed 
cup,  the  cheery  repast  and  merry  songs. ^  And  the  Sabbath-day 
with  its  congregational  life,  its  holy  services,  the  family  gathering, 
the  hospitality,  the  study  and  fraternal  calls  ?  They  were  no  empty 
ceremonies,  but  customs  fraught  with  genuine  spirit  and  humane 
elevation.  That  kept  the  Jew  alive  in  the  tomb  of  the  Ghetto  for 
long,  dark  ages,  a  fore-taste  of  a  better  existence,  in  future  aeons 
of  existence.2  And  this  benign  and  elevating  influence  of  the 
Sabbath  on  the  Ghetto- Jew  is  visible  in  history  on  the  Gentile 
masses  too.  Poverty,  despotism  and  ignorance  built  for  them  a 
Ghetto  no  less  than  for  the  Jew.  A  look  at  the  peasants  in  East- 
ern, and  even  in  Western  Europe  shows  their  condition  hardly 
better  than  that  of  the  Hebrews.  To  them,  too,  the  Sabbath 
brought  some  rest,  consolation,  and  hope  for  better  times.  Also 
them  the  Sabbath  rescued  from  total  degeneration. 


Km'p  ,ni3-i3  .nn^DT  ^ 


168  EXODUS,    MOSES    AND    THE    DECALOGUE. 

Now  we  must  not  misunderstand  history.  Not  everything  of 
the  past  must  be  eulogized,  and  not  everything  of  the  present 
criticised.  I  do  not  wish  back  those  times  of  toil  and  starvation 
during  the  week,  and  plenty  of  Shalet,^  and,  in  part,  im.aginary 
bliss  on  the  rest-day.  I  prefer  modern  freedom,  citizenship  and 
economic  well-being  to  all  the  delights  of  the  Ghetto.  But  what 
I  do  regret,  what  I  do  wish  to  see  restored  in  the  modern  Jewish 
home  is,  the  spirit,  the  energy  of  those  times,  the  true  mentality, 
the  sincere  religiousness,  and  the  firm  will-power  to  continue  as  a 
light  to  the  nations,^  as  a  "minority  wherein  the  divine  spirit 
moves"  f  I  wish  to  see  restored  the  unshaken  trust  in  God,  in 
right,  in  reason,  in  honesty;  the  high  sense  for  intellectual  pleas- 
ures, educating,  thinking,  studying;  the  respect  for  learning  and 
for  character ;  the  simplicity,  frugality,  purity,  modesty,  solidarity, 
sympathy;  the  family  adherence,  the  strength  of  each  unit  and 
the  national  cohesion,  the  strong  physique  and  the  noble  spirit- 
uality of  the  old  time  Jew ;  that  I  wish  to  be  restored  to  modern 
Israel  as  a  pattern  for  mankind  at  large.  These  virtues  were  all 
the  alumni  and  concomittants  of  the  blessed  princess  Sabbath. 
The  Western  Jew  has  since  gained  much  during  the  week,  but  is 
he  still  .the  prince  of  mind?.  . . 

THE  HUMANITARIAN  SABBATH-INFLUENCE. 

Elsewhere,  as  mentioned,  we  have  attempted  to  trace  the  in- 
fluence of  our  institutions.  That  influence  is  manifold  and  world- 
wide. When  one  throws  a  stone  into  a  large  sheet  of  water,  that 
sudden  impulse  will  induce  a  gradual  commotion  on  its  entire 
surface ;  first  a  bubbling  circle  around  the  stone,  which  circle  will 
cause  another  one,  that  still  another,  etc.,  each  new  circle  larger 
than  the  preceding  one,  all  clustering  around  the  center,  extending 
and  covering  the  entire  superficies  of  the  water-sheet.  Even  such 
is  the  efifect  of  our  great  rest-day  establishment  on  the  ocean  of 
humanity.  It  means  first  to  be  a  day  of  cessation  from  manual 
work,  a  pause  from  weekly  labor,  an  abstention  from  every  day's 
cares,  in  order  to  recreate  the  forces  and  refresh  the  bodies  of 
the  great  mass  of  hard-working  people.     It  means  next  to  offer 


'The  favorite  dish  of  old  Ghetto  existence. 

Is.  49.6.  D""i3  mj^b  irnnj    2 
SMatthew  Arnold  on  Minorities 


THE   HUMANITARIAN    SABBATH-INFLUENCE.  169 

the  time  and  desire  for  mental,  moral  and  spiritual  concerns ;  to 
offer  for  any  kind  of  mind-culture  the  leisure  and  opportunity, 
for  the  development  of  the  multiple  capacities,  instincts  and  aspi- 
rations of  our  innate  higher  humanity,  as  science,  religion,  art, 
sympathy,  sociability,  worship,  mostly  neglected  during  the  six 
week  days,  absorbed  in  the  exclusive  cares  for  the  body.  Thirdly, 
Sabbath  aims  at  the  socio-political  amelioration  of  men,  at  the 
emancipation  and  equalization  of  the  plebeian  majority  from  the 
yoke  of  the  reigning  minority,  the  masses  from  the  classes,  within 
the  same  country  and  nation.  When  these  poor,  hardworking 
masses  rest  and  recreate  bodily,  cultivate  their  minds,  mentally 
and  ethically,  at  least  one  day  in  the  week,  they  will  gradually 
rise  in  the  social  scale,  break  their  politico-social  shackles,  acquire 
the  desire,  the  aspiration,  the  energy  and  finally  the  means  to 
conquer  their  human  dignity,  their  legal  and  political  equality 
and  liberty.^ 

Sabbath  means,  fourthly,  the  elevation  and  emancipation  of  the 
several  human  fractions,  nationalities,  peoples,  countries,  races 
of  the  one,  identical  great  human  species.  It  offers  to  the  subju- 
gated masses  everywhere,  the  opportunity  for  bodily  recuperation, 
mental  and  moral  elevation,  political  and  social  justice  from 
foreign  yokes  and  native  exploitations.  It  will  in  time  succeed 
to  inspirit,  energize  and  elevate  them,  politically  and  socially, 
economically  and  industrially;  to  enfranchise  and  liberate  the 
subjugated  races  and  countries,  internationally ;  to  free  from  tute- 
lage and  downright  conquest  people  from  people,  sect  from  sect, 
race  from  race  and  country  from  country,  the  subjugated  from 
their  masters.  It  will  unyoke  the  Pariah  from  the  Brahman  and 
Kshatria,  the  Hilot  and  barbarian  from  the  Spartan  and  the 
Greek,  the  serf  and  villain  from  the  baron  and  the  bishop.  It 
will  free  the  woman,  the  child,  the  orphan,  the  poor,  the  working 
man,  the  toiling  peasant,  the  ostracised  ones,  from  legal  and  eco- 
nomical inferiority,  from  the  harsh  employers,  aiming  at  pluto- 
cracy by  the  capital  acquired  at  his  expense.  Capital  and  savings 
by  thrift,  are  blessings  to  society,  the  poor  and  industry.  It  is 
turned  to  a  curse  by  heartless  selfishness  and  over-reaching. 
Through  the  great  opportunities  of  the  Sabbath,  Pariah,  Helot, 


^See  on  the  Sabbath  theme,  Maimonides  Guide,  part  III,  Tame 
Hamitzvoths,  where  he  emphasizes  besides  the  bodilj^  rest  and  recrea- 
tion chiefly  the  timely  creation  of  the  world,  important  in  his  time,  not 
so  much  in  ours. 


170  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

Gibeonite  and  toilers  of  the  glebe  will  rest  and  recreate  bodily, 
develop  spiritually,  rise  socially  and  break  the  odious  yoke  of 
exploitation,  of  assumed  superiority  and  inferiority  of  race, 
creeds  or  sects,  treacherously  kept  up  by  the  interested  parties. 
Finally  and  fifthly,  Sabbath  is  the  consecrated  day  of  rest,  rec- 
reation and  happiness  to  the  brute  too,  to  the  entire  living-  crea- 
tion, to  all  feeling  mortal  beings.  It  is  the  weekly  holiday  for  all 
beings  gifted  with  life.  It  is  the  epoch  of  rehablitation  and 
emancipation  from  all  sorts  of  usurpations,  artificial,  historical, 
enforced  bondages ;  the  restoration  to  the  original,  natural  con- 
dition, that  of  being  dependent  upon  God  and  self,  not  man.  It 
invests  with  rights  even  the  brute,  the  dumb  and  mute,  yet  feeling 
animal  kingdom,  man's  drudges  and  vehicles  of  burden,  still  his 
assistants  in  the  work  of  civilization,  as  the  ox,  the  ass,  the 
horse,  the  tools  and  conveyances  of  his  labors.  As  such  and  for 
their  own  sake,  they  are  entitled  to  life,  protection,  sympathy, 
health  and  well-being.  Therefore  to  them  too,  the  Sabbath  vin- 
dicates and  guarantees  a  weekly  day  of  rest  and  recuperation. 

Thus  the  Sabbath  is  the  divine  institution  of  enfranchisement 
and  rehabilitation.  It  is  the  habeas  corpus  against  all  sorts  of 
usurpations,  against  historical,  conventional,  artificial  bondages ; 
against  racial,  sexual  and  sectional  pretenses ;  against  individual, 
class,  guild,  state  and  caste  privileges.  It  is  the  return  to  the 
natural,  original  conditions  of  feeling  beings,  before  man  came 
in  with  his  selfish,  cruel,  suicidal  encroachments.  It  proclaims 
prospective  freedom  to  all  rational  and  moral  creatures,  to  the 
ground  down  toiler  of  the  soil,  the  spiritually,  educationally,  and 
economically  neglected,  the  politically  degraded,  the  socially  os- 
tracised, the  subjugated  individual,  tribe,  race,  country  and  sect. 
Finally  it  vindicates  some  protection  to  the  dumb  brute,  the  assist- 
ant of  man  and  his  indispensable  tool.^  All  this  is  distinctly  ex- 
pressed or  implied  in  the  Decalogue  (II  M.,  20  and  V  M.,  5.)  : 
"Observe  the  Sabbath  day  and  sanctify  it.  .  .Six  days  shalt  thou 
labor  and  perform  all  thy  work,  but  the  seventh  day  is  a  pause,. 
a  rest  unto  Ihvh,  thy  God ;  Thou  shalt  not  do  any  work ;  thou, 
thy  son  and  thy  daughter ;  thy  male  and  female  slave,  thy  ox  and 
thy  ass  and  all  thy  beasts,  and  the  stranger  in  thy  gates — that 
thy  male  and  female  slaves  may  rest  as  thyself.  .  .for  remember,  a 


njD^ynm  wni:  "lyn  tic  nx"in  x:?  .ic""i3  -iit;'  Dinnn  n^ 


THE   HUMANITARIAN    SABBATH-INFLUENCE.  171 

slave  thou  hast  been  in  Egypt  and  God  rescued  thee  from  thence, 
for  that  purpose  he  ordained  thee  to  keep  the  Sabbath-day."  Here 
are  the  mentioned  five-fold  objects  of  the  institution :  To  protect 
the  body,  the  mind,  the  freedom  and  the  well-being  of  the  indi- 
viduals, the  classes  and  the  stations  of  man,  inclusive  of  the  pro- 
tection of  the  brute. 

To  that  day,  of  such  a  vast,  world-wide  import  to  human  bet- 
terment and  allsided  happiness,  the  Lawgiver  vindicates  an  ex- 
alted origin.  He  identifies  it  with  the  very  creation  and  the  rise 
of  man:  After  the  world  of  matter  and  animality  had  been 
completed,  and  mind,  civilized  man,  Adam,  made  his  appearance, 
the  Sabbath  was  inaugurated.^  Whilst  at  Sinai  it  was  solemnly  or- 
dained, promulgated,  blessed,  sanctified,  declared  obligatory  upon 
the  Hebraic  nation,  and  consecrated  by  the  divine  Lawgiver  as 
the  time  set  apart  for  elevating  and  spiritualizing  man  and  his 
surroundings.  It  is  the  flag  of  Mosaism,  Oth  Berith,  the  basis 
of  human  civilization.  The  Lawgiver  is  most  solicitous  to  im- 
press upon,  strengthen  and  uphold  it,  by  all  means  at  his  disposal, 
reward  and  punishment,  divine  and  human;  God  and  the  State 
are  its  guardians ;  stripes,  even  death  and  extirpation^  when 
warned,  are  set  upon  its  transgression ;  it  is  meniloned  and  re- 
peated again  and  again,  forcibly  and  circumstantially  in  the 
creation  chapters,  in  the  I  and  H  Decalogue  and  in  a  hundred 
more  passages  of  the  Bible. 

SABBATH  THOUGHTS  HERE  AND  IN  "BIBLE  LEGIS- 
LATION." 

We  quote  here  part  of  our  characterization  of  that  theme  from 
our  previous  treatise,  "Spirit  of  Biblical  Legislation,"  p.  142- 
163 :  The  Sabbath-day  is  set  apart  by  divine  Providence  for  the 
bodily,  mental,  moral,  spiritual,  political  and  ethico-social  advance 
of  man.  It  is  a  day  devoted  to  bodily  recreation,  moral  improve- 
ment, mental  culture,  spiritual  uplifting  and  social  rehabilitation; 
for  liberation  from  the  weekly  drudgery  and  soaring  up  to  a 
higher  plane  of  humane  existence,  moral,  religious,  scientific, 
esthetic  and  humanitarian,  to  everything  divine  in  human  nature ; 


1  Some  sort  of  a  popular  Sabbath  or  rest-day  was  known  to  the  pre- 
Sinaic  world,  as  further  on  shown. 

m3  .njT'o  ,mp'^o  2 


172  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE, 

raising  man  to  that  messianic  zone  where  his  entire  life  will  be 
one  great  divine  service,  when  duty,  virtue  and  happiness  will 
become  coincident,  the  different  aspects  of  the  one  and  the  same 
prism  of  perfect  humanity.  . . 

In  Exodus  xvi.,  26,  one  may  find  a  hint  that  the  Hebrews  in 
Egypt  had  a  notion  of  the  seventh  day  of  rest,  and  from  Assyrio- 
Babylonian  discoveries  we  may  learn  that  such  a  custom  was  not 
unknown  in  the  Orient,  older  than  Sinai  and  Abraham,^  sqpie 
sort  of  a  popular  sport-  or  rest-day.  But  it  is  only  in  Mosaism 
where  it  received  its  prominence,  its  sacred  dignity,  as  a  solemn 
rest,  consecrated  to  God,  Sabbaton,  I'Qadsho,  for  body  and  mind, 
peremptory,  categoric,  for  rich  and  poor,  master  and  slave,  even 
the  beast  of  burden.  That  grand  role  in  history  as  the  Sabbath, 
it  received  solely  and  singly  since  the  epoch  of  Sinai.  History 
can  positively  trace  it  only  since  the  Arabian  epoch.  From 
that  date  on,  it  became  the  0th  Berith,  the  flag  and  banner  of 
Israel's  religion.  Gradually  it  reached  the  Western  Gentile 
world,  became  generally  adopted,  and  the  base  for  human  civili- 
zation, emancipating,  enlightening  and  elevating  the  masses 
wherever  it  penetrated,  and  assumed  the  import  and  dimensions 
of  a  universal  institution.  The  Christian  world  celebrates  it  on 
Sunday,  the  Mohammedan  one  on  Friday,  the  East-Asiatic  peo- 
ples too  will  soon  adopt,  and  may  solemnize  it  on  Monday.  Still 
it  is  the  self-same  disguised  Mosaico-prophetic  Sabbath  or  weekly 
rest-day.  Its  import  is  the  fact  of  consecrating  a  weekly  pause 
for  rest  and  mentality.  It  must  be  a  weekly  rest-day,  not  every 
ten  days,  as  tried  by  the  French  revolution,  not  every  month, 
nor  a  voluntary,  individually  preferred  rest-day.  No,  only  a  uni- 
versally accepted,  permanent  day  will  answer  our  humane  needs, 
and  that  is  the  prophetic  weekly  God-blessed  Sabbath. 

On  that  day  there  shall  be  made  no  distinction  between 
master  and  slave,  Judaean  and  Gibeonite,  between  races, 
origins  and  castes.  By  bodily  rest,  spiritual  and  mental  cul- 
tivation and  leisure  for  education,  men  will  gradually  acquire 
the  will,  the  power  and  the  intelligence  to  conquer  their 
conquerors..  .  .The  rest-day  establishment  is  the  great  benefactor 
of  the  dependent,  the  uneducated,  the  socially  ostracised,  the  con- 
quered races  and  the  brute  creation.  Justly  interpreting  the  text, 
the  Talmud  imposes  the  Sabbath  rest  of  slaves  and  beasts  as  a 


iSee  ibid.,  146. 


SABBATH  THOUGHTS  HERE  AND  IN  "BIBLE  LEGISLATION." 

J  73 
positive  duty  of  the  Jew.  Read  the  Commandment  and  its 
detail  sentences  carefully,  and  observe  how  the  lawgiver  was 
anxious  to  make  it  a  universal  rest  and  recreation.  He  knows 
human  nature!  Lest  the  upper  classes  might  cunningly  mis- 
construe the  object  and  aim  of  this  weekly  arrangement;  lest  the 
employer,  the  speculator,  the  historical  aristocrat  may  usurp  it 
for  himself  and  his  own  class,  and  consider  it  as  his  privilege; 
lest  he  should  pretend  that  his  kin  alone  are  the  children  of  God, 
that  the  pariah  and  the  Hilot,  the  peasant,  the  wage-laborer  have 
no  claim  upon  that  holiday,  and  thus  exclude  the  son  of  toil  from 
the  protection  of  this  universal  institution  of  freedom — the  law- 
giver, a  son  of  toil  himself,  repeats  with  so  much  emphasis  and 
sums  it  up  with  so  much  stress :  "That  thy  man-  and  maid-servant 
may  rest  as  thyself."  The  strong,  free  and  rich  have  leisure,  ease 
and  liberty  enough.  But  the  majority,  the  laboring  masses,  the 
ninety-nine  out  of  every  one  hundred,  need  the  day  urgently, 
peremptorily.  They  do  need  all  the  solicitude,  tender  care  and 
sympathetic  protection  of  society  and  the  law.  Society  and  law 
must  step  in  and  protect  the  weak  and  poor  especially.  So  the 
lawgiver,  the  divinely  ordained  representative  of  society,  the  con- 
secrated organ  of  divine,  universal  justice,  the  prophetic  mouth- 
piece of  the  Legislation  of  Horeb,  of  Israel,  of  mankind,  not  only 
of  the  historical  aristocracy,  steps  in  and  emphatically  ordains : 
"That  on  the  Sabbath-day  the  poor  and  dependent  shall  rest  like 
the  master."  And  well  knowing  man,  changing  feelings 
with  dress,  he  sternly  recalls  to  the  mind  of  the  overbearing 
aristocrat  and  exploiter:  (Deut.,  v.,  15)  Thy  gold  and  silk 
and  titles  are  but  of  yesterday :  a  slave  thou  hast  been  in  Egypt 
and  I,  God,  have  freed  thee  by  my  sovereign  power,  therefore  be 
not  selfish,  allow  the  poor  his  chance  of  recuperation.  Remem- 
ber thou  art  not  born  a  master,  not  in  the  purple,  a  slave  thou 
hast  been  in  Egypt.  Justice  has  been  done  unto  thee,  do  justice  to 
those  humble  and  dependent  upon  thee,  for  the  mighty  arm  of 
Supreme  Justice  is  outstretched  alike  over  him  and  over  thee.".  . , 
Kind  readers  !  Remember  your  own  Egypt,  in  Ireland,  Germany, 
Russia,  of  yesterday,  or  a  century  ago.  In  America,  the  conse- 
crated ground  of  freedom  and  justice  to  all  the  ostracised,  let  the 
poor  have  his  weekly  Rest-day.  Do  not  begrudge  it  to  him  or 
her,  thy  man-servant  or  thy  maid  servant,  thy  middle-man,  clerk 
or  workman.    Remember,  when  the  bright  Sabbath  morning  dawns 


174  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

upon  the  awakening  eyes  of  those  dependent  upon  thee,  let  each 
of  them  feel  and  say:  "Today,  I  also,  am  a  free,  rational  happy 
being,  I  can  recreate,  breathe  freely,  enjoy  my  existence,  be  with 
my  family,  see  my  friends  and  commune  with  my  God. 

The  diverse  many-sided  scopes  and  aspirations,  the  far-reaching 
objects  of  the  Sabbath-day  are  slowly  but  surely  being  attained. 
Observe  the  sure,  silent,  steps  of  history,  from  Sinai  to  Washing- 
ton, from  Moses  to  Tolstoy.  "How  lovely  are  on  the  mounts  the 
feet  of  the  messenger,  announcing  peace,  and  salvation,  that,  O 
Zion!  thy  God  reigneth  (Is.,  52.,  7)."  Look  to  these  grand 
stations  and  mileposts  of  history:  Sinai,  Karmel,  Zerubabel  and 
Maccabeus ;  the  One-God-faith  accepted  by  the  Shomites,  then  by 
the  Arians,  nearer  yet  by  Northern  Europe ;  the  liberation  by  the 
French,  American  and  West-European  revolutions ...  Do  you 
hear  that  revolutionary  tocsin  roaring?  That  is  the  reverbera- 
tion from  Horeb,  emancipating  and  elevating  the  poor  masses. 
These  are  the  workings  of  our  Decalogue  with  its  grand,  world- 
vast  Sabbath  Institution,  enfranchising  mankind." 

SABBATH  IN  AMERICA. 

Now  in  the  beginning  of  the  20th  century,  here  in  North  America, 
we  may  say  that  its  first  great  object  is  fairly  being  attained: 
Women  and  children  are  free  and  protected.  There  are  here  no 
serfs  of  the  glebe,  and  no  lords  of  the  manor ;  no  drudges  and 
no  born  patricians.  The  poor  and  the  working  men  fight  for 
their  betterment,  and  they  will  attain  it.  At  any  rate  there  is 
free  government  by  and  for  the  people,  free  vote,  free  speech,  free 
press,  free  education,  free  conscience  and  free  worship.  Even  in 
Europe,  the  nationalities  and  creeds,  races  and  sexes  stand  up  and 
fight  for  their  autonomy.  We  have  here  no  born  reigning  and 
no  born  serving  classes.  A  vast  democracy  reigns,  no  dominant 
church,  but  compulsory  secular  education,  equality  in  State  and 
before  the  Law.  "That  thy  man  and  maid-servant  shall  rest  as 
thyself,"  is  realized.  What  then  is  here  the  mission  of  our  seventh 
day  institution?  "Remember  the  Sabbath-day  to  sanctify  it." 
"Observe  and  reserve  it  for  sanctification  (II  M.  20.8  and  V  M. 
5.12)"  expresses  it.  Ingeniously  the  Agada  interprets:  "Remem- 
ber" and  "observe"  were  pronounced  in  one  breath,"^  viz :  Re- 


Midrash.  ad  locum,  nnx  -I12n2  1131"!  "IIDC   ^ 


SABBATH  IN  AMERICA.  175 

member  and  observe  the  Sabbath-day  for  sanctified  purposes.  It  is 
the  time  set  aside  for  the  working  classes  to  educate  themselves ;  the 
time  for  reHgious,  mental,  moral  and  spiritual  culture  and  uplift- 
ing. Just  here  in  America  are  material  concerns,  the  cares  and 
anxieties  for  the  bodily  and  economic  welfare,  more  absorbing, 
yea  crushing,  than  at  any  time  before  and  any  place  else.  No 
use  minimizing  the  sordid  evil.  It  pervades  nearly  all  the  strata 
of  American  society,  from  humblest  to  highest.  During  the 
entire  week  there  is  a  hurry,  a  bustle,  a  strife,  a  struggle  for 
money-making  and  lucre,  as  if  earthly  existence  was  unlimited, 
as  if  the  soul's  salvation  was  at  stake,  as  if  the  daily  bread 
depended  on  that.  All  the  energies,  all  contrivances,  all  ingenuity 
and  all  efforts  are  brought  out  for  pecuniary  acquisition,  any 
other  acquirement  is  lost  sight  of.  Every  brain  is  on  the  rack, 
every  heart  in  an  agony  to  discover  new  ways  and  methods  for 
making  an  "independent  fortune"  the  sole,  universal  ideal  of 
existence ! 

The  materialism,  the  sensuality,  the  idolatry  of  Mammon,  the 
adoration  of  the  Golden  Calf  are  nowhere  so  prevalent  as  just  in 
our  Western  hemisphere.  Elsewhere,  birth,  glory,  achievements, 
learning,  character,  count  —  with  us,  Money!  The  European 
poverty  explains  the  American  immigrant's  greed ;  that  explains, 
but  it  does  not  justify;  man  is  more  than  a  stomach. 

The  chief  object  of  Sabbath  should  therefore  be  to  counteract 
and  mitigate  these  one-sided  blindfolded  tendencies,  to  save,  at 
least,  one  day  out  of  seven  for  non-material  concerns.  On  the 
seventh  day  let  us  visit  the  house  of  God,  there  to  strengthen  and 
elevate  our  minds  by  instruction,  prayer  and  meditation.  Let  us 
listen  to  a  sermon  or  a  lecture  calculated  to  offer  real  and  true 
ethical  benefit.  Or  let  us  take  up  a  good  book,  sometimes  Isaiah 
or  the  Psalms,  and  sometimes  on  old  or  a  modern  thinker  and 
writer  for  edification.  Or  let  us  admire  art,  a  fine  picture  and  a 
good  symphony  are  refining  also.  Or  let  us  go  out  of  town  into 
the  vast,  green,  blooming  areas  of  nature,  there  to  admire  and 
adore ;  to  adore  the  Creator  by  admiring  his  grandiose  handiwork. 
No  temple  gives  us  so  grand  a  conception  of  the  Lord  of  nature 
as  the  sublime  aspect  of  that  boundless  nature  itself,  with  its 
illimitable  starry  dome,  heaven's  canopy,  and  its  innumerable 
shining  worlds,  ever  attuning  their  praises  to  the  Grand  Maker. 


176  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

Or  let  us  attend  to  our  family's  well-being,  our  children's  school- 
ing, see  a  friend  or  visit  the  sick,  or  look  at  the  communal 
interests.  Such  are  the  objects  becoming  the  Sabbath,  worthy 
modes  of  sanctifying  the  day  by  improving  the  indivdual  and  the 
society. 

Unfortunately  the  Sabbath  is  most  ruthlessly  neglected,  yea. 
desecrated  in  America  more  than  ever  and  anywhere  else.  It  is 
desecrated  by  Orthodox  and  Reformer,  whatever  these  terms  may 
mean :  facts  are  too  flagrant  to  need  much  comment.  I  will  only 
call  attention  in  illustration  of  one  of  the  many  sad  consequences 
of  that  fact.  That  is  the  ignoble  materialism,  reigning  just  here 
and  now,  the  neglect  of  higher  education,  of  true  culture  and 
nobler  aspirations,  the  lack  of  esthetics  and  real  refinement, 
people  catering  generally  to  ostentation,  money-making  and  sen- 
sual pleasures. 

Out  of  a  million  of  American  Israelites  I  do  not  know  50  men, 
remarkable  for  anything  else  than  finance  and  business  smart- 
ness. I  do  not  know  such  45,  not  40,  not  30,  not  20,  not  10.  Oh, 
what  a  terrible  fall !  Israel,  once  the  nation  of  mind  and  culture, 
is  now  the  people  of  Mammon.  True,  this  reproach  is  not  alone 
at  the  address  of  the  Jew,  it  is  a  general  one,  justly  applied  to 
the  present  American  idiosyncrasies,  without  difference  of  race, 
creed  or  nationality.  It  is  the  darkest  reverse-side  of  our  democ- 
racy. But  it  weighs  doubly  heavy  upon  the  Jew.  Because  "no- 
bility obliges" ;  he  is  representing  the  "kingdom  of  priests  and 
holy  nations."  As  such  more  is  expected  of  him.  Besides  he  is 
a  minority  and  more  conspicuous.  "He  must  be  of  gold  to  pass 
for  silver."  Wherefore  be  a  minority  if  it  is  not  superior  to 
the  majority !..  .That  peculiar  money-taste  has  impressed  itself 
even  upon  our  language :  "He  is  worth  thousands !"  is  a  common 
phrase,  prizing  a  rational  man  according  to  his  purse ;  forgetting 
that  he  may  be  worth  a  million  ducats  and  yet  be  absolutely 
worthless.  What  a  vulgarity!  What  false  measurements  to 
apply  to  ethical  beings  in  assuming  that  merely  to  have  money, 
implies  to  have  brains,  morals,  worth !  How  much  does  such  an 
estimate  degrade  man's  own  better  self !  The  immigrant  is  prized 
by  his  capacity  to  make  a  livelihood.  But  a  prosperous  nation 
of  80  millions  should  repudiate  such  crude  notions.  So  at  the 
mercy  of  wind  and  wave  do  people  drift  about  on  the  stormy 


SABBATH  IN  AMERICA.  .    177 

ocean  of  life,  and  when  the  harlot,  fortune,  turns  her  back  upon 
them,  when  they  lose  the  money,  they  have  lost  everything,  "they 
are  worthless,"  and  pitilessly  despised.  Their  money  has  fled 
with  their  wits,  their  social  standing,  their  self-respect,  they  are 
worthless  in  every  sense  and  lie  prostrate  at  the  feet  of  the 
Golden  calf. 

Often  we  hear  well-meaning  parents  complaining  of  the  cal- 
lousness of  children,  of  their  lack  of  ambition,  of  application,  of 
their  dislike  of  study.  No,  the  children  are  the  victims,  not  the 
authors  thereof.  Do  not  impugn  the  young,  you  wrong  them 
twice.  The  young  are  but  the  offspring  of  the  old,  and  bear  the 
consequences  thereof.  Their  faults  proceed  from  the  parents, 
not  from  nature.  The  child  sees  the  father  first  make  the  money, 
by  any  means,  and  then  spend  it  by  all  means,  but  never  read 
or  study,  and  of  course,  it  contracts  the  same  tastes  and  habits. 
Every  one  has  a  parlor;  who  has  a  library?  Every  one  is  bent 
on  amusement ;  how  many  read  serious  books,  anxious  to  improve  ? 
Who  sets  to  the  young  the  example  of  an  intellectual  enjoyment, 
a  generous  pursuit,  a  noble  aspiration?  The  attentive  boy  and 
girl  find  the  parents  working  during  the  week,  working  on  the 
Sabbath  and  playing  or  idling  on  Sunday.  When  and  how  should 
they  learn  and  contract  the  habits,  taste  and  zeal  for  intellectual 
and  refining  pursuits ! 

Pondering  over  all  the  social  and  moral  factors  of  American 
society,  the  conviction  forces  itself  upon  the  thinking  contem- 
plator  that  the  great  cause  of  American  materialism  lies  in  the 
fact  of  the  general  neglect  and  the  improper  use  of  the  Sabbath- 
day,  and  that  a  restoration  of  the  Sabbath  alone  will  improve 
matters.     Nothing  short  of  this  will ! 

SABBATH  OR  ANY  OTHER  DAY? 

Practical  people,  engrossed  solely  by  the  struggle  for  existence, 
ask  the  following:  Must  we  still  continue,  now  as  of  yore, 
in  America  as  on  the  entire  globe,  to  celebrate  the  Rest-day  on 
the  7th  day  of  the  week?  The  Decalogue  says:  "for  six  days 
shalt  thou  labor . .  .  and  on  the  seventh  day  is  a  rest."  Can  we 
not  rest  each  and  every  one,  according  to  our  convenience  and 
utility,  on  any  one  day  out  of  seven?  The  Decalogue  refers  to 
the  last  day,  to  the  very  close  of  the  week  of  divine  creation 


178  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

(Gen.  II. 1).  But  now  that  modern  astronomy  has  so  marvel- 
ously  expanded  the  universe,  that  even  this  our  own  solar  system 
has  many  world-planets,  each  having  its  own  day,  viz. :  the  time 
of  its  rotation  around  its  own  axis,  hence  is  our  day  of  24  hours 
peculiar  to  itself,  to  this  terrestrial  globe,  not  to  any  other  planet, 
the  less  so  to  any  other  solar  system;  hence  can  the  Sabbath 
mean  simply  one  day  out  of  seven  for  recuperation.  Could  we 
not  therefore  choose,  each  his  own  day,  or  whenever  it  suits 
most  of  us,  or  even  coincide  with  the  respective  majority  of  the 
nations  among  whom  we  dwell,  in  the  United  States,  Europe,  Asia 
or  Africa?  Must  we  cling  to  the  7th  day  Sabbath  as  heretofore, 
or  could  we  American  Jews  choose  another  day?  True  we  need 
a  day  for  rest,  culture,  worship,  etc.,  but  would  not  any  other 
day  answer  the  purpose?  Whenever  we  have  the  time  and 
leisure?  So  practical  people  ask  who  have  not  fully  grasped  the 
problem,  who  imagine  they  can  create  a  Sabbath  at  will,  adding 
still :  "We  are  reformers,  we  look  to  the  essence,  not  the  forms ; 
why  not  change  the  customary  day  if  it  is  not  convenient  to  the 
community,  if  it  clashes  so  much  with  the  majority?  Why  not 
continue  the  institution  with  all  its  benefits  on  any  other  day,  more 
in  harmony  with  surroundings  and  industrial  interests? 

There  is  no  use  hushing  up.  Let  us  ventilate  and  frankly  dis- 
cuss this  arduous  problem  and  find  out  the  balance  of  reason. 

To  these  objections  the  answer  is :  Shall  the  Sabbath  day 
answer  its  purpose,  as  intended  by  the  providential  legislator,  viz : 
le  qadsho,  for  sanctification,  to  improve  man,  to  recreate  his  body, 
mind  and  soul,  to  raise  his  social,  humane  and  political  status, 
then  it  must  be  universal,  for  all,  and  permanent,  year  after  year, 
for  centuries  and  milleniums,  here  and  in  any  part  of  the  terres- 
trial globe  as  far  as  possible.  It  must  be  accepted  and  kept  as 
by  divine  authority,  enjoined  by  law  and  state,  have  the  auriole 
of  antiquity,  be  taught  and  imbibed  with  our  mother's  milk,  con- 
temporaneous with  Adam,  creation,  civilization.  And  such  is  the 
Sabbath  of  the  Decalogue  alone.  Alone  then  can  it  be  effica- 
cious. Whilst  if  you  choose  your  Sabbath  according  to  your  own 
convenience,  every  year  or  week  having  its  own  convenience, 
once  on  that  day  and  next  time  on  another  day  of  the  week,  and, 
of  course,  your  neighbor  too  is  to  have  his  free  selection  of  his 
rest  day — then,  I  ask,  would  that  be  really  a  holy  day,  a  Sabbath, 
set  apart  for  sanctification,  with  all  the  far-reaching  results  and 


SABBATH  OR  ANY  OTHER  DAY?  179 

effects  we  have  above  contemplated  ?  By  no  means  !  That  would 
be  an  idling  day,  a  jolly-day,  not  a  holy-day,  not  a  God  blessed 
Sabbath !  A  Sabbath-day  needs  the  impress,  the  halo  of  eternity 
and  universality,  observed  by  all  your  fellow  men,  your  congre- 
gation, your  nearest  and  dearest.  While  if  all  its  authority  is 
your  own,  individual,  temporary  selection,  it  is  empty,  void, 
inoperative.  The  Sabbath  of  the  Decalogue  alone  has  that  para- 
mount authority.  It  is  affiliated  with  the  very  creation.  As  the 
week  consists  of  six  working  days,  and  one,  the  last,  is  a  Rest, 
even  so  creation  lasted  for  six  days,  and  the  seventh  God  blessed 
and  hallowed ;  then  later,  mankind  maturing,  God  ordained  it  on 
Sinai,  as  Israel's  rest-day,  for  ever  and  for  everywhere,  without 
regard  to  time,  place  and  individual  convenience.  That  is  a  holy 
Sabbath.  And  since  we  have  seen  that  trinitarian  Christianity 
is  but  a  phase  in  human  development,  bovmd  to  follow  the  univer- 
sal law  of  progress,  that  therefore  trinity  is  silently  preparing 
mankind  for  monotheism — then  I  can  not  see  why  the  Sunday- 
rest  should  not  make  room  for  the  genuine  Seventh-day-Rest. 
Further  on  we  shall  elucidate  this. 

SUNDAY,  PRACTICAL  MEN  AND  FACTS. 

But  practical  men  reply :  These  are  philosophical,  theoretical, 
theological  considerations.  Contemplate  now  the  realistic,  prac- 
tical side  of  the  problem.  We  now  labor  under  tremendous  diffi- 
culties :  One  to  a  hundred  compared  with  other  denominations, 
under  crushing  competition,  with  great  needs,  and  with  more 
social  and  economical  envy  than  ever  before.  In  Europe,  a  cen- 
tury ago,  the  Jew  alone  occupied  with  trade,  he  alone  was  the 
go-between,  the  middle-man  between  producer  and  consumer. 
The  barons  busied  themselves  with  war,  politics,  gallantry;  the 
peasants  with  manual  field-labors.  The  Jew  was  the  merchant, 
the  industrial,  the  brain  man,  the  banker,  the  traveling  agent ;  he 
had  little  or  no  competition  to  fear.  He  could  then  choose  his 
own  market-,  work-  and  rest-days.  This  was  the  case  in  Poland, 
Russia,  Prussia,  the  Danubean  and  Balkan  Provinces,  Hungary, 
in  part  even  until  recent  date.  Conditions  now  have  changed  there 
too.  Quite  other  circumstances  prevail  in  America.  We  can  hardly 
compete  with  the  native  Yankee  merchants  and  industrials.    How 

IMaurice  Fluegel's  Exodus,  Moses  and  the  Decalogue. 


i8o  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

can  we  afford  to  vacate  on  the  Sabbath,  the  hoHdays  and  the 
Sundays?  Just  on  the  Sabbath  is  the  leading  weekly  business 
day.  How  could  we  stand  competition?  We  and  our  families 
would  be  crushed  out  and  pauperized !  We  must  yield !  not 
yield  the  weekly"  Sabbath  rest,  but  merely  the  customary  day. 
We  shall  once  begin  counting  from  Monday,  then  Sunday 
will  be  the  7th,  every  Sunday  will  be  the  7th  day,  and  so  on. 
Sunday  has  the  halo  of  15 — 18  centuries.  300 — 400  millions 
celebrate  it.  Our  American  neighbors  observe  it,  the  State  law 
insists  on  it.  The  seventh  day  Sabbath  is  in  fact  swept  away. 
Ninety  out  of  a  hundred  observe  the  Sunday.  Besides  must  we 
not  count  the  good  feeling  of  our  neighbors  ?  Must  we  not  avoid 
provocation?  Not  try  to  conciliate  and  please?  Why  should 
we  not  fall  in  with  the  majority?  So  speak  our  practical  men, 
honestly  believing  the  Sunday-Sabbath  will  suit  the  purpose. 

Now  pause  and  inquire  first,  and  you  will  find  out  that  just  the 
Sunday  fits  the  least  for  our  Sabbath  object.  Examine  the  fol- 
lowing data :  When  we  select  the  ground  and  collect  the  mate- 
rials for  building  a  farm  or  a  residence  for  us  and  for  times  to 
come,  not  a  cottage  for  a  season,  we  begin  with  examining  its 
soil,  composition,  strata,  surroundings,  neighborhood  and  all  the 
building  materals.  We  have  been  observng  the  Sabbath  day  of 
the  Decalogue  and  now  some  suggest  to  change  it  for  another 
commercially  more  convenient  day.  You  will  therefore  I  hope, 
be  desirous  of  examining  the  previous  history,  genesis  and  mean- 
ing of  the  Sunday.  From  hoary  antiquity  the  Arian  heathen 
world  had  devoted  the  first  day  of  the  week  to  the  leading 
deity  of  their  mythologic^  pantheon,  the  Sun-God,  for  fun,  disport- 
ment,  jollification  and  spontaneous  relaxation  on  that  Sunday. 
Even  that  is  little  mentioned  anywhere.  Over  18  centuries  ago 
the  few  Hebrew  followers  of  the  man  to  whom  later  was  imparted 
the  role  of  the  founder  of  trinitarian  Christianity,  and  his  first 
disciples,  later  called  Apostles,  were  humble,  devout  and  sincere 
Jews,  just  like  their  master.  He  and  they  sacredly  observed  and 
kept  the  Sabbath  of  the  Decalogue  and  never  contemplated  any 
change,  never !  He  had  said,  according  to  Matthew :  Think  not 
that  I  am  come  to  destroy  the  law,  or  the  prophets.     I  am  not 


iThe  Sun  the  most  beneficent  force  in  nature.     Even  Zeus  originally- 
meant  light  and  Apollo-Phoebus,  light,  was  his  favorite  son. 


SUNDAY,    PRACTICAL   MEN    AND   FACTS.  i8i 

come  to  destroy  but  to  fulfill,  for  verily  I  say  unto  you,  till  heaven 
and  earth  pass,  one  jot  or  one  tittle  shall  in  no  wise  pass  from 
the  law  till  all  be  fulfilled.^  His  apostles,  disciples  and  followers, 
all  strictly  adhered  to  this  program.  They,  as  he,  would  have 
shrunk  with  horror  at  the  idea  of  desecrating  the  Sababth.  He 
and  they  and  even  Paul  observed  the  seventh  day  rest.  But  Paul, 
imbued  with  Greek  ideas,  gradually  may  have  begun  to  doubt  any 
preference  of  days  and  seasons,^  thinking  them  perhaps  simple 
ceremonies.  Whilst  the  acknowledged  immediate  apostles  clung  to 
the  Law  and  the  Sabbath,  without  any  shadow  of  doubt  or  hesita- 
tion. But  deeply  impressed  with  all  the  features  of  honesty,  suavity, 
enthusiasm,  pure  aspirations  of  their  departed  master,  they  soon 
assumed  him  as  a  Davidian,  a  Messiah,  who  after  his  crucifixion 
was  resurrected  and  translated  to  heaven,  as  Elijah  or  Henoch 
had  been.  These  Hebrew-Christians,  viz :  Jews  believing  that 
Jesus  was  the  expected  Messiah,  remembered  on  the  Sunday 
(mourning  being  forbidden  on  Sabbath  by  the  rabbinic  law)  his 
tragic  death,  soon  his  resurrection  and  lastly  his  ascension. 
So  Sunday  became  a  day  of  prayer,  fasting  and  penitence,  for  the 
few  Jews  who  clung  to  the  messianic  character  of  their  de- 
parted leader.  The  Decalogue-Sabbath  continued  as  heretofore, 
to  be  celebrated  on  the  7th  day,  the  last  of  the  week,  as  the  day 
of  rest,  recreation  and  sanctification.  Such  it  continued  for  two  to 
three  centuries,  by  the  apostles  and  the  first  bishops,  who  lived  and 
died  as  their  master,  pious  Jews.  But  gradually  that  original  He- 
brew-Christian sect,  the  Ebionites,  the  Baptists,  the  Revivalists,  etc. 
dwindled  away  and  died  out.  Their  remnants  were  out-crowded 
by,  or  fused  with,  the  huge  masses  of  Gentiles  from  all  the  neigh- 
boring nations,  that  flocked  to  the  Christian  camp,  at  the  an- 
nouncement of  Paul  and  his  later  followers,  that  the  God  of  Israel 
will  readily  receive  them  into  his  Church  and  his  parental  heart; 
that  Israel's  God  is  the  God,  the  only  One,  Spirit,  Mind,  the 
Unknozvn  God  of  the  Greek  world  ;  that  he  desired  no  local  or 
sectional  observances,  but  virtue  and  good  deeds  and  willingly 
accepts  on  these  terms  the  Gentile  too  to  his  grace  and  benefi- 
cence. In  distinction  from  the  Jews  and  as  their  rallying  parole, 
the  Gentile  Christians  accepted  Jesus  of  Nazareth  as  the  Messiah, 
in  Greek,  the  Christ,  the  God-anointed  and  appointed,  and  called 


1  Matthew  V,  17  and  18.     Luke  XVI,  17. 
2Galat,ians  IV,  9  and  10,  and  other  remarks  of  Paul. 


l82  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

themselves  Christians.  From  that  moment  the  Mosaic  Law  and 
the  Sabbath  began  to  step  into  the  back-ground.  As  all  other 
Jewish  holidays,  so  the  Sabbath  began  to  be  discarded.  The 
Roman  emperor,  Constantine  the  Great,  in  the  IV  Century,  after 
long  political  oscillations  and  hesitations,  finding  polytheism 
ruined,  and  the  world  needing  a  church  with  a  creed  and  Credo, 
became  a  Christian  and  slowly  made  Christianty  the  dominant 
religion.  He  made  an  end  to  the  doubts  about  the  public  rest- 
day.  The  Gentile  world  was  declared  to  be  Christian;  the  new 
religion,  as  not  identical  with  Mosaism,  Judaism  and  Talmudism. 
Monotheism  compromised  with  polytheism  and  became  Trinitari- 
anism ;  disestablished  was  the  Mosaic  Law,  but  the  prophetico-social 
one  was  retained.  That  was  the  content  of  the  Nicaean  State  re- 
ligion. The  Mosaic  7th-day-Sabbath  was  abolished,  and  the  Sunday, 
the  day  obscurely  remembered  by  the  pagan  world  and  originally 
devoted  to  the  Sun-God  as  Sunday,  was  declared  to  take  the 
place  of  the  Sabbath  for  the  Gentile  Christian  world.  It  was,  as 
entire  Christianity,  a  compromise  between  the  old  and  the  new, 
the  Mosaic  and  the  Gentile  world,  between  the  overwhelming 
majority  and  the  humble  minority,  between  the  Gentile  Chris- 
tians and  the  Jewish  Ebionites  who  alone  remembered  that  Jesus, 
the  Apostles,  Paul  and  the  bishops  of  the  first  two  or  three  cen- 
turies had  been  all  Biblical  Jews  !  The  Sabbath,  as  purely  Jewish, 
was  abolished  and  the  Sunday  of  ancient  heathen  origin,  was 
substituted,  thus  amalgamating  the  Biblical  monotheistic  Sabbath- 
ideas  with  the  polytheistic  ones  of  Sunday. 

SUNDAY,  THE  SYMBOL  OF  TRINITY. 

The  Sunday-Sabbath  is  thus  the  seal  and  symbol  of  the  trini- 
tarian  religion,  saliently  disitinguishing  it  from  Judaism.  It 
betokens  the  fusion  of  the  spirit  of  Judaism  with  that  of  poly- 
theism. The  Sunday  does  not  remember  the  One  God  Creator, 
but  the  Christ  as  the  founder  of  Christianity,  the  resurrected 
Messiah,  a  person  or  part  of  the  Trinity,  god-the-son,  who  came 
to  redeem  man  and  the  world,  who  died  on  the  cross  and  redeemed 
by  his  passion  the  sins  of  those  who  believe  in  his  vicarious  office; 
who  resurrected  and  ascended  to  heaven,  standing  there  at  the 
right  hand  of  God :  God-the-father,  himself  God-the-son,  and 
God  the  Holy  Ghost  being  three  distinct  gods,  yet  making  up 
one  Divine  Unity. — This  means  the  Sunday-Sabbath.      Sunday 


SUNDAY,  THE  SYMBOL  OF  TRINITY.  183 

blends  the  new  and  the  old  elements  and  constitutes  the  badge 
of  Christianity,  just  as  Sabbath  is  the  badge  (Oth  Berith)  of 
Judaism. 

But  holy  seasons  are  not  created  by  an  imperial  edict.  It 
requires  something  else  than  the  interest  and  the  policy  of  the 
prince  and  his  hierarchy.  The  Sabbath  was  abolished  for  the 
Gentiles,  but  for  centuries  the  Sunday  hardly  gained  by  that.  It 
continued  the  occasion  of  hilarity  and  jollification  for  the  masses, 
and  for  a  few,  that  of  fasting  and  penitential  worship,  but  not 
as  the  day  for  rest,  culture,  happiness,  and  sanctification  for  all. 
The  Christian  world  had  no  Sabbath  in  the  sense  of  the  term. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  Eighth  Century,  the  previous  sudden 
and  amazing  revolution  in  Arabia,  and  the  rise  of  the  Mo- 
hammedan power  having  shown  the  weak  points  of  Christian- 
ity, the  Emperor  Leo  of  Constantinople  made  an  effort  to  in- 
vigorate it.  One  of  his  reforms  was  the  solemn  transfer  of  the 
sanctity  of  the  Biblical  Sabbath  to  the  Christian  Sunday.  But 
he  did  not  succeed  much  better  than  Constantine  and  the  Ni- 
caean  Council  four  centuries  earlier.  It  was  a  day  of  official 
worship  and  popular  merriment,  not  in  the  Mosaic  sense,  a 
universal  holy  rest  and  moral  uplifting.  The  despised  and 
down-trodden  Jews  had  their  ancient  Sabbath,  not  so  the  Gen- 
tile world.  Not  until  the  epoch  of  the  Protestant  Reformation, 
far  in  the  Sixteenth  Century,  when  Luther,  Calvin  and  Knox 
succeeded  to  effect  a  Sunday-rest.  Coming  nearer  the  spirit 
of  the  Bible  in  other  respects,  they  succeeded  in  clothing  the 
Sunday  with  part  of  the  authority  and  the  benefactions  of  the 
Sabbath.  In  North  Germany,  Holland,  Switzerland,  and  more 
even  in  Scotland,  England  and  North  America,  there  is  a  Sun- 
day Sabbath,  worthy  of  the  name,  devoted  to  general  rest, 
worship,  quiet  home  life,  and  recreation.  Nevertheless  it  falls 
short  of  the  Mosaic  Sabbath.  It  is  marred  by  its  undeniable 
historical  origin.  It  is  not  even  there  a  day  of  genuine  cheer 
and  sociability  and  mental  and  humane  culture.  It  is  still  half 
a  penitential  day.  It  is  half  a  mystic  day.  It  reminds  one  of 
crucifixion  and  ascension.  Hence  it  is  termed  the  Lord's  day 
and  too  much  monopolized  by  the  ministers  for  repeated 
church  going  and  sermons.  It  has  still  the  atmosphere  of 
gloom  and  monotony,  distinctly  remembering  the  old  Jew- 
Christian  Sunday  of  yore,  of  fasting  and  penitence,  of  the  pas- 


i84 


EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 


sion  and  the  death  on  the  Cross,  as  claimed  by  the  Church.  It 
is  half  and  half  a  day  of  mourning  and  castigation.  The  serene, 
cheerful,  realistic,  sky-blue  atmosphere  of  the  Biblical  Sabbath, 
the  day  of  joy  and  recreation,  of  moral,  mental  and  hygienic 
uplifting  of  body  and  mind^  when  the  family  members  and 
friends  assemble  around  the  sacred  hearth  in  token  of  peace 
and  hapiness,  that  character  it  lacks  even  today.  It  is  a  Puri- 
tan Church  day,  a  ministers',  pietistic  day;  it  is  not,  as  intended 
in  the  Bible  and  advised  by  physiology  and  hygienics,  a  day 
for  every  man,  woman  and  child,  for  their  bodily,  mental, 
moral,  esthetic,  political  and  social  betterment  and  happiness. 
Contrasting  the  ideas  symbolized  by  each  of  these  days,  in 
the  respective  camps,  we  find  that, 


Saturday-Sabbath  repre- 
sents : 

God-one,  Mind,  Spirit,  Cre- 
ator of  the  Universe. 


God      pure 
changeable ; 


Spirit, 


God  Eternal,  omnipresent, 
omniscient,  Only  One. 

God  Allpowerful,  Allwise, 
Allgood. 

Best  world.  God's  crea- 
tion, for  the  happiness  of  all. 

Man  in  God's  image,  free, 
rational,  moral. 

Man  with  reason  and  free 
choice  of  good  or  evil,  capa- 
ble of  virtue  and  happiness. 

Man  is  by  reason  and  ef- 
forts master  of  fate. 

Sabbath-rest,  energy,  sanc- 
tification,  joy. 

']'])is  means  Sabbath. 


Whilst  Sunday  brings  to 
mind  these  ideas : 

God  three,  Father,  Son 
and  Holy  Ghost,  Logos- 
Creator. 

God  incarnated,  assumed 
forms  and  phases,  hypos- 
tasis. 

God,  born,  died,  resurrect- 
ed, split  in  three. 

God  frustrated,  overreach- 
ed by  the  devil,  crucified. 

Worst  world,  by  devil  and 
sin,  doomed  to  hell ; 

Man  tainted  with  original 
sin  doomed  to  eternal  hell, 
from  his  very  birth. 

Man  radically  bad  and  un- 
happy. Only  blind  obedi- 
ence and  blood  of  Christ 
save — fatalism ! 

Man  doomed,  deeds  avail 
not.  creed  is  all,  grace,  not 
merit. 

Sunday  'i^loom, penance  ;  God 
died  on  Cross. 

This  means  Sunday. 


Is.  58,13.  jjiy  nsL'O  nxnpi 


SUNDAY,  THE  SYMBOL  OF  TRINITY.  185 

To  uphold  the  one  set  and  oppose  the  other,  Israel  suffered 
martyrdom  these  last  15  centuries. 

Here  is  the  Sabbath  and  its  ideas  and  there  the  Sunday,  its 
background  and  concepts.  These  are  no  artificial  construc- 
tions, they  are  facts,  stern  historical  data.  In  accepting  the 
seventh  or  the  first  day,  the  one  or  the  other  flag,  we  accept 
the  one  or  the  other  set  of  ideas,  respectively,  symbolized  by 
each.  The  two  pregnant  sets  of  tenets,  diametrically  oppose 
each  other.  You  can  not  harmonize  or  blend  them.  For  the 
Sabbath  ideas  Israel  has  been  battling  during  these  last  thirty- 
five  centuries.  For  them  he  has  been  suffering  daily  martyr- 
dom in  the  last  fifteen,  just  for  not  acquiescing  in  these  Sunday 
views.  Shall  he  now  give  up  the  Sabbath  ideas  and  adopt  the 
Sunday  ones :  Triune  God,  incarnated,  born  and  died,  resur- 
rected and  ascended  bodily — to  heaven,  to  improve  the  world, 
(spoiled  by  the  Devil),  and  redeem  the  Christian  portion  of  man- 
kind ;  leaving  all  other  men  to  their  doom,  eternal  Hell,  tainted 
from  their  birth  by  the  original  sin  of  Adam  and  Eve ;  salva- 
tion to  be  obtained  only  by  the  blood  of  the  Messiah,  man's 
deeds  being  of  no  avail?    Shall  he,  can  he  do  so? 

AMERICAN  JEWS  CONSIDER. 

Does  any  one  of  you  believe  in  that?  No !  You  do  not  believe ! 
How  then  could  you  accept  the  Sunday-Sabbath,  the  official 
exponent  and  flag,  historically  pledged  to  these  tenets,  the 
mystic  faith  of  the  triune  believer,  diametrically  opposed  to 
all  your  convictions,  reason  and  common  sense?  Or  do  you 
imagine  you  could  retain  the  seventh  day  Sabbath-ideas  with 
the  Sunday  as  the  Sabbath?  Think  a  little !  Could  you  accept 
the  flag  of  Russian  autocracy  and  retain  American  democracy? 
Would  that  not  be  flagrant  inconsistency,  hypocrisy,  lack  of 
principle?  Is  there  not  imminent  danger  that  with  the  Rus- 
sian flag  you  will  become  Russian  slaves? 

Some  years  ago  I  discussed  this  matter  with  the  well  known 
late  Professor  Franz  Delitzsch,  a  fine  teacher  of  the  Leipzig 
University,  a  real  admirer  of  Jewish  character,  but  an  ardent 
conversionist.  Pointing  out  to  him  the  above  argument,  he 
said :  "I  am  fully  aware  of  this  forceful  argument.  I  know 
well  that  not  all  is  correct  in  our  own  camp... as  yourself  I 
accept  the  Unity  and  spirituality  of  God,  but  I  wish  that  you. 


i86  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

Jews,  overlooking  these  anomalies,  should  come  over  to  us 
and  help  us  correct  them."  To  which  I  at  once  rejoined: 
"Would  you  advise  one  to  move  into  a  shaky  house  and  then 
begin  rebuilding  its  walls  and  roof?  Is  it  not  wiser  first  to 
repair  it  and  then  to  move  in?  We  Jews  help  you  best  to 
make  that  repair  when  standing  outside,  pointing  out  the 
defects  and  respectfully  urging  you  on  to  correct  them." 

Indeed  would  the  Reformation  have  taken  place,  if  Luther, 
Calvin,  Zwingli,  Melanchton,  etc.,  had  not  found  the  Bible 
intact  in  Jewish  hands,  which  enabled  them  to  amend  at  least 
some  of  the  official  incongruities?. .  .Even  so  I  say  to  you 
American  Jews,  Could  you  wisely  and  safely  accept  the  Sun- 
day-Sabbath and  then  improve  the  principles  underlying  it? 
Is  that  not  tantamount  to  moving  into  a  shaky  house  and 
then  begin  rebuilding  base,  walls  and  roof  ? 

How  can  you  think  of  Sunday-Sabbath?  Does  not  faith, 
logic  and  history  constrain  you  to  the  conclusion  that  all 
those  who  accept  the  Credo:  "Hear  O  Israel,  God  is  One," 
must  cling  to  the  Sabbath  of  the  Decalogue,  its  flag  of  thirty- 
five  hundred  years  ago? 

THE  PRACTICAL  SIDE. 

But  your  practical  economical  interests  suffer  by  the  Sab- 
bath, the  multiple  holidays,  the  two  weekly  rest-days.  To  this 
I  reply:  Your  ancestors  were  politically  and  economically 
worse  off,  nevertheless  they  kept  their  Sabbath  and  holidays. 
They  remained  in  the  Ghetto  princes  of  the  mind.  Pauperized 
they  were  by  the  boycott,  the  ostracism  during  the  week,  not 
by  the  Sabbath-Rest.  You  plead :  "We  can  not  keep  our  Sab- 
baths and  holidays,  considering  economically,  the  needs  of  our 
families,  we  must  support  them."  But  you  forget  that  just  on 
account  of  your  children,  you  must  set  them  an  example  of 
conviction,  character,  principle !  Children  need  not  only 
bread  and  raiment,  but  also  character,  "Not  on  bread  alone 
man  liveth,  but  on  all  flowing  from  the  Divine  breath. ^  We 
happily  live  in  a  land  that  can  support  a  hundredfold  popula- 
tion larger  than  the  one  it  harbors ;  but  there  is  great  scarcity  of 
character  now  a  days.     Parents  should  not  alone  accumulate 


Dixn  n^n^  nab  cnbn  hv  xb  '3 


THE   PRACTICAL   SIDE.  187 

riches  for  their  successors,  but  leave  them,  besides,  principles, 
convictions,  character,  moral  courage !  Imagine  what  do  our 
young  think,  when  seeing  their  parents  work  during  the  week,  the 
Sabbaths  and  holidays,  in  spite  of  the  Decalogue — and  sending 
them  to  school  to  learn :  "Remember  the  Sabbath  day  to  keep 
it  holy." 

Besides  the  mentioned  historical  reasons,  so  cogent  and 
threatening,  pleading  for  the  Mosaic  rest-day,  even  practically 
you  could  not  utilize  the  Sunday  for  rest  and  worship.  Of 
the  few  Sunday  trials  in  Europe  and  America,  none  has  proved 
a  success.  When  people  neglect  their  own  Sabbath,  they  will 
not  better  observe  the  Christian  rest-day.  The  Berlin,  New 
York,  and  Chicago-attempts  have  completely  failed.  Hoisting 
an  insincere  flag,  one  with  false  colors,  those  initiators  neces- 
sarily became  callous  to  the  principles  of  the  true  flag.  "Ethical" 
indiflferentism,  apostasy,  nihilism,  these  profit  by  it. 

Again  forget  not  that  the  Decalogue  rest-day  has  yet  powerful 
friends,  even  among  liberal  Christians.  Everywhere  you  will 
find  them  silently  siding  with  it.  There  are  millions  of  Uni- 
tarians, of  Anti-Trinitarians,  of  Christians  not  accepting  the 
dicta  of  the  Council  of  Nicaea.  There  are  millions  and  tens 
of  millions  who  disclaim  Paul's  heresies,  who  prefer  the  Arian 
or  even  the  Ebionite  school,  who  desire  to  separate  the  wheat 
from  the  later  chaff,  who  aim  with  Franz  Delitzsch  at  a  re- 
vision of  the  dogmatics,  the  Christology,  asking  the  aid  of 
Israel  outside  of  Trinity.  Such  a  current  is  to  be  surmised 
and  found  among  the  very  founders  of  the  American  Com- 
monwealth, since  Franklin  to  this  day.  Here  comes  the  silent 
tendency  to  vacate  on  the  Sabbath  besides  the  regular  Sun- 
day, generally  practiced,  in  the  schools,  often  in  Court,  etc. ; 
coming  in  vogue  in  Commerce  and  Economics  and  in  part,  in 
industrial  establishments ;  workingmen's  associations,  too,  are 
drifting  in  the  same  direction.  Even  the  large,  educated 
masses  of  Christianity  can  not  help  recognizing  that  the  Jewish 
minority  have  a  right  to  a  fair  hearing,  that  Bible  and  Deca- 
logue plainly  point  to  the  seventh  day  Sabbath,  not  the  Sunday 
of  old  polytheism.  Thus  the  Sabbath  is  not  irretrievably 
lost.  It  may  soon  become  a  legal  holiday,  five  days  weekly 
work  should  provide  for  the  bodily  wants,  and  two  days  left 
for  mental  and  moral  needs.     The  great  movement  for  an 


i88  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

eight-hour  working  day,  points  that  way.  The  fact  is,  today's 
workers  are  overworked.  One  half  of  society  toils  too  much 
and  is  wrecked,  and  the  other  half  is  out  of  work  and  wrecked 
by  starvation.  Let  five  days  weekly  be  devoted  to  bodily 
needs  and  two  reserved  for  mental  and  spiritual  development. 
This  may  prove  to  be  a  solution  of  the  social  problem,  of 
pauperism  and  lack  of  work.  Both  may  have  their  main  source 
in  over-work  and  under-work  of  the  classes  and  the  masses. 
Five  work  days  and  two  rest-days  may  cure  both,  pauperism 
and  plutocracy,  with  ignorance,  profanity  and  vulgarity.  Now 
considering  the  Decalogue,  the  times,  the  social  aspects,  the  relig- 
ious problem,  all  appearing  to  go  in  the  same  direction,  all  being 
clearly  in  the  right,  why  despair  of  reason  and  logic?  Why 
should  not  mythology  at  last  recede?  Why  set  an  example 
of  treason  to  principle,  history,  ancestors  and  mankind?  Be- 
hold nineteen  hundred  years  ago  the  Occident,  with  Christian- 
ity, came  nearer  the  Hebraic  Bible  and  the  Decalogue;  twelve 
hundred  years  ago  the  Oriental  Mohammedans ;  four  hundred 
years  ago  Protestantism  did,  now  comes  liberal  Christianity, 
the  Unitarian  tendency.  You  see,  mankind  moves  on,  reason 
and  right  are  advancing.  Even  remorseless  Russian  and  Rou- 
manian anti-Semitism  deprecates  religious  and  racial  intoler- 
ance, claiming  that  but  economic  considerations  underlie  their 
discriminations.  You  see  the  tigers  begin  to  be  mitigated. 
They  eat  up  the  lamb,  not  for  its  creed,  but  because  it  is  fat 
and  weak.  Let  us  unite  with  the  v/orld's  liberals  and  we  shall 
be  strong,  strong  by  right  and  by  might.  To  do  one's  duty  is 
a  powerful  force.  You  can  not  give  up  your  doctrine,  mono- 
theism, nor  your  flag,  the  Sabbath,  whilst  betraying  your  mil- 
lennial mission  to  mankind. 

THEORETICAL  MEN  ON  SUNDAY. 

We  have  discussed  the  opinions  of  practical  men  concerning 
a  Sunday-Sabbath.  We  shall  now  quote  some  of  the  sugges- 
tions of  learned  men,  citing  even  rabbinical  authorities  claimed 
as  favoring  such  a  transfer,  and  shall  see  that  such  claims 
are  inadequate.  There  is  a  well  known  Talmudical  Agada 
purporting  that:  "The  Sabbath  is  given  unto  you,  not  you  to 
the  Sabbath. "1     Upon  such  fine,  pithy  Medrashic  sayings,  Paul 


D3P  n^^T]  n:5N  .nsK'b  D'jnj  nns  n^  i 


THEORETICAL   MEN   ON   SUNDAY.  189 

and  his  successors  founded  their  scheme  of  enfranchising  the 
Gentile  Christians  from  the  Biblical  holidays  and  other  ob- 
servances, forgetting  the  radical  difference  that  exists  between 
the  Law  or  Halakha,  and  the  Agada,  mere  homiletics.  Is  this 
not  calculated  rather  to  deter  from,  than  attract  to  such  inno- 
vations?. ..Of  the  same  caliber  is  another  familiar  rabbinical 
quotation:  "Make  thy  Sabbath  a  working-day  and  be  in  no 
need  of  (being  assisted  by)  men."  ^  This  too  is  an  agadic, 
practical  saying,  and  not  meant  as  a  legal  maxim.  To  work 
on  the  Sabbath  as  on  a  week-day,  was  and  remained  a  crime 
if  done  willfully  and  spitefully,  to  insult  the  Law. 

The  incident,  in  the  time  of  Moses,^  of  a  young  man  collect- 
ing wood  on  the  Sabbath,  and  being  stoned,  as  a  Sabbath- 
breaker,  is  a  striking  proof  of  it.  It  was  severe,  a  deterring 
example,  and  only  temporary,  especially  since  the  man  had 
not  been  forewarned,  as  required  by  the  rabbinical  law  in  all 
such  cases.^  Nevertheless  it  shows  that  the  law  was  and 
remained  that  week-day  work  on  the  Sabbath  is  forbidden, 
and  that  poverty  is  no  excuse.  In  the  wars  of  the  Maccabeans 
and  later  those  between  Judaea  and  Rome,  defensive  war,  viz., 
to  protect  life,4  was  allowed,  not  offensive  war,  since  any  kind 
of  work  is  forbidden  on  the  Sabbath,  even  on  extreme  occa- 
sions. 

The  Synagogue  has  a  special  service  on  every  Monday  and 
Thursday  morning,  with  special  prayers  and  readings  of  part 
of  the  weekly  pericope  from  the  sacred  Scroll,  This  is  an 
old  arrangement,  dating  from  Judaea,  in  order  to  accommodate 
visitors  from  the  country  who  could  not  come  to  town  on  the 
Sabbath,  and  give  them  an  opportunity  to  attend  the  services 
and  readings  of  the  law  on  those  two  weekly  market  and 
court-days.  Why  then,  say  some  learned  Sunday  friends,  can 
we  not  do  the  same  Sunday  for  those  who  are  not  able  to 
worship  on  the  Sabbath?  The  answer  is,  because:  The  Mon- 
day and  Thursday  services  never  supplanted  the  Sabbath, 
whilst  the  Sunday  service  does  and  will  supplant  it,  as  proven 
in  the  Berlin  and  Chicago  and  many  other  Sunday-Sabbath 


2  (IV  M.,  XV.  32.)     Picking  up  wood. 

nxinn  ,nw  nxiin  3 


190  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

Congregations.  At  first  the  regular  Sabbath-services  were 
deserted,  then  they  were  entirely  stopped  to  patronize  the 
Sunday  worship,  at  last,  when  these  had  fairly  ruined  the  Sab- 
bath, they  in  turn  were  neglected  and  at  last  are  or  soon  will 
be  dispensed  with.  Who  surrenders  his  own  Sabbath,  will 
not  spare  his  neighbor's  one.  Another  difference  between  then 
and  now  is  this :  The  Judaen  country-folk  could  not  attend 
the  Sabbath  services,  just  on  account  of  the  Sabbath  forbid- 
ding traveling  and  journeying  over  more  than  two  thousand 
yards. ^  Hence  thev  could  fairly  ask  for  an  extra  week-day 
service,  upon  fair  moral  grounds.  While  modern  men  neglect 
the  Sabbath  and  the  Synagogue  on  business  grounds,  and  such 
will  not  care  much  for  Sunday-services.  Facts  prove  it.  No 
doubt,  there  is  no  cause  for  forbidding  worship  and  instruc- 
tions on  Sunday,  as  it  is  a  general  vacation  day,  and  should  be 
utilized  ethically  in  our  hard-pressed  times.  But  if  one  insists 
on  Sunday  and  refuses  any  other  day  or  evening  for  worship, 
there  is  ground  for  suspicion  that  he  is  catering  to  the  majority, 
not  desire  of  and  reverence  for  religion  or  instruction. 

Another  such  idle  argument  is  the  second  Passover,^  viz : 
The  Pentateuch  ordaineth  for  a  person  who  happened  to  be 
away  from  home,  or  levitically  unclean  on  the  Passover,  the 
fourteenth  of  the  spring  month,  the  anniversary  of  the  Exodus, 
then  he  shall  celebrate  it  just  a  month  afterwards.  "Why 
then,  contend  some  parties,  could  we  not  on  similar  grounds 
postpone  our  Sabbath  to  Sunday?  Once  done  so,  every  Sun- 
day will  be  the  seventh  day  counting  from  Monday!"  That 
argument  limps.  The  second  Passover  was  a  partial,  indi- 
vidual temporary  provision,  for  persons  hindered  by  necessity, 
by  zns  major  from  attending  Passover,  and  willing  to  conform 
to  the  well  established  rule.  Whilst  here  people  propose  to 
disestablish  and  abrogate,  for  ever  and  ever,  an  institution  of 
thirty-five  hundred  years ;  of  the  grandest  dimensions  and  far- 
reaching  results,  and  fuse  it  with,  or  rather  supplant  it  by 
another  institution  originally  and  ostensibly  established  to 
antagonize  it,  and  contradict  every  thing  intended  by  it.  The 
medium  comparationis  of  this  parallel  is  totally  lacking  and 
the  argument  is  illogical. 


nnt^  Dinn 

2  IV  M.,  Ix,  10. 


THEORETICAL  MEN   ON   SUNDAY.  191 

It  is  well  known  that  the  Jews  celebrate  their  holidays 
according  to  the  lunar  cycle,  and  since  that  is  shorter  than  the 
real,  solar  one,  they  insert,  periodically,  an  extra  13th  month 
in  the  year,i  to  equalize  them  approximately.  Now  this  offi- 
cial statement,  so  important  for  religious  life,  belonged  to  the 
duties  and  privileges  of  the  Chief  or  Nassi,  the  Judge,  and  the 
Supreme  Court  in  Judaea.  About  this  we  read  in  Bab.  San- 
hedrin,  ii,  a:  "One  adds  an  additional  thirteenth  month  only 
with  the  consent  of  the  Nassi:  It  happened  once  to  Rab. 
Gamaliel  who  had  gone  on  state  affairs  to  the  ruler  of  Syria 
and  tarried  there,  that  his  Court  made  such  a  declaration  (of  a 
leap  year  of  13  months),  expressly,  conditionally:  If  consented 
to  by  Rabban  Gamaliel.  He  soon  returned  and  declared :"  I 
do  agree  to  it,"  then  that  became  law.  Such  a  leap  year  was 
decreed  only  when  indispensable,  as  on  account  of  the  bad 
roads,  defective  bridges,  decayed  Passover-ovens,  or  far-away 
Jewish  pilgrims  for  Jerusalem. .  .One  shall  enact  no  leap-year 
on  account  of  the  kids,  lambs  and.  pigeons  being  yet  too  tender 
(for  sacrificial  purposes),  but  such  may  be  made  an  accessory 
ground  for  a  leap-year.  So  R.  Yanai  says  in  the  name  of  R. 
Simeon,  son  of  Gamaliel,  the  Nassi,  who  wrote  to  the  Congre- 
gations :  "We  inform  you  that  the  pigeons  and  lambs  are 
too  tender  and  spring  time  has  not  yet  arrived.  So  I  was 
pleased  to  increase  this  year  with  30  days."^  Here  we  see 
that  a  leap-year,  with  postponement  of  the  entire  festive  cal- 
endar of  the  year,  was  declared  by  the  Patriarch,  on  grounds 
perfectly  human  and  realistic,  in  order  to  make  it  convenient 
to  the  people  to  pilgrim  to  the  Temple  and  Jerusalem.  "Why 
then  should  we  moderns,  our  learned  antagonists  could  say,  not  be 
allowed  to  transfer  the  Sabbath  to  the  more  convenient  Sun- 
day?' The  answer  is  the  same  as  before  mentioned:  Because 
then  it  was  not  a  transfer,  but  a  re-adjustment  on  an  actual 


iMaimonides  Yad,  on  New  Moon. 

;x>boj   pn3   nii>v^   .k^k^j    nvi^   p   dk  x^n  r]:ii>n  nx  piayo  px 

r\:^n  nx  nn^yi  ,xi3^  r\r^m  xmoac'  i^^t:'  bvx  nM^-\  b)^'b  V^^ 

...>jx  nvn  :-inx  xatj'ai  ,bx^;»j  pi  n^f-i^K>  njo  by 

We  abbreviate  the  following,  containing  the  theme,  there: 

•'3S»  xb   bnx   •bx-iK^''  nr^j   .D^noQ  nijn    ,DnK^jn   ,D-3"nn  "JDo 
•'3"'3-i  x-'bnjn  .pab  ijnjx  pynin  ...njtiO  nyo   bax   •n-'x^tai   D^njn 

•xtoD  ab  T3X1  xjon 


192  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

calculation,  and  putting  it  aright,  harmonizing  the  lunar  cycle 
so  as  to  come  up  to  the  practically  important  solar  one.  Such 
a  computation  and  promulgation  could  properly  be  made  only 
by  the  nation's  Supreme  Court  and  its  head,  the  conditions 
when,  where,  why  and  the  frequency  of  such  intercalations 
and  many  more  greater  and  minor  considerations  had  to  be 
taken  into  account.  Whilst  our  Mosaic  Sabbath,  is  clear, 
doubted  by  none,  and  subject  to  no  fluctuations.  Now  to  post- 
pone it  and  allow  it  to  be  supplanted  by  Sunday,  the  originally 
polytheistic  day,  and  later,  the  symbolic  institution  of  an 
avowedly  opposite  doctrine  and  religion — that  holds  no  com- 
parison with  the  leap-year  case  invoked.  There,  again,  is  the 
question  of  a  temporary  enactment,  inserting  the  intercalary 
month  when  the  Sanhedrin  thought  it  fit  and  proper.  In  our 
case  it  is  to  be  a  permanent  and  definite  weekly  transfer  from 
one  day  to  another,  from  one  certain  platform  to  its  very  dia- 
metrically opposite  one;  the  surrender  of  the  grand,  Mono- 
theistic Institution  to  a  Trinitarian  one !  So  for  instance,  the 
Rabbis  allow  the  prophet  to  temporarily  postpone  a  biblical 
commandment,  as  Elijah  sacrificed  on  Karmel,  on  the  ground 
of  expediency:^  But  if  he  dare  cancel  it  definitely,  or  dare 
change  it  totally  to  another  one,  then  he  is  declared  an  im- 
postor, a  false  prophet  and  death  is  his  punishment. 

In  Bably.  Sabbath  69b.  we  read.2  Rab  Hunah  said:  "When 
one  was  long  on  the  road  or  in  the  wilderness  and  knew  not 
when  the  Sabbath  is,  then  he  shall  count  six  days  and  the 
seventh  is  his  day  of  Sabbath,  Chiyah  says :  He  observes  (as 
his  Sabbath)  one  day  and  then  counts  six  working  days.  In 
what  do  they  differ?  One  opines:  as  the  creation,  (six  crea- 
tive days  and  the  seventh  is  rest),  and  the  other:  as  Adam  did 
(His  advent  was  on  the  close  of  Friday,  and  at  once  he  ob- 
served the  Sabbath  and  then  counted  six  working  days).  Raba 
says :  Every  day  he  shall  work  for  his  livelihood,  except  on 
that  day  (as  his  own  Sabbath)  :  Shall  he  die  on  that  day? 
No,  he  shall  prepare  on  the  preceding  day  for  two  days.     But 


Ps.  119-126  ^min  nsn  r'b  r\)t'vh  ny  ^ 
D^o>  nn^^  njio  ,r\^^  "ticcn  yir  irxi  -lanna  in  ^ma  I'^no  n^n  2 
■d"'0>  njj'K'  njiDi  inx  nv  -iDL'^n   noix  3"i  -13  x^^n  .ins*  nv  idl*'di 
...p5j>x"in  Dnxs   n3D  n»i  ,nb^v  hit^  inxnno  i3d  no  ?^5J^D^op  n*>03 


THEORETICAL  MEN   ON   SUNDAY.  193 

possibly  just  that  day  was  the  Sabbath?  Well,  let  him  work 
every  day  for  his  livelihood,  without  any  exception  and  that 
day  (his  own  Sabbath)  let  him  distinguish  by  the  consecrated 
Cups  at  its  beginning  and  its  close."  Here,  we  see — our 
learned  antagonist  would  say — that  in  case  of  doubt  as  to  the 
right  time,  any  one  day  after  or  before  six  working  days,  will 
do,  why  then  should  we  not  do  the  same  in  this  din  and  bustle 
of  the  struggle  lor  existence?  The  reply  we  have  given  above 
holds  good  here  too.  The  Talmud  attends  there  to  rare  cases, 
to  individuals,  astray  and  ignorant  of  the  right  day,  and  ad- 
vises them  in  such  a  dilemma;  now  such  a  casualty  can  not 
be  made  a  rule,  not  a  precedence  for  an  entire  community  in  nor- 
mal conditions,  well  knowing  the  date  and  calendar,  to  change 
definitely  and  permanently  the  seventh  day  for  another,  a  day 
of  a  diametrically  opposite  character.  Remember  Again  Some 
will  barter  the  seventh  day  for  the  first  of  the  week;  and  some, 
in  Mohammedan  countries,  for  Friday,  the  sixth  of  the  week ; 
and  some,  for  other  reasons  good  in  China,  for  Wednesday  or 
Thursday.  That  can  make  a  day  for  self-indulgence,  not  a 
Sabbath-day  for  sanctification.  Israel  having  been  a  unit  in. 
the  dispersion,  for  fifteen  hundred  years,  will  be  broken  up, 
simply,  by  such  a  splitting  and  isolation.  The  forward  Sunday- 
Sabbath  Jews  will  tear  away  from  the  mass  of  the  Jews,  amalga- 
mate, surely,  with  the  dominant  denominations  and  at  last  be 
swallowed  up  and  lost  among  the  surrounding  majorities ; 
That  is  what  we  have  to  face  w^hen  tampering  with  our  re- 
ligious bases.  The  stages  of  such  a  result  are  already,  dire- 
fully,  visible.  Such  people  begin  with  both,  Saturday  and 
Sunday  services,  they  may  soon  pass  to  Sunday-Sabbath  serv- 
ices and  a  Rabbi ;  then  proceed  to  Sunday  and  a  Unitarian  min- 
ister, then  to  Sunday  and  universalist  speaker,  to  land  at  last 
at  ethical  culture,  singing  unions,  in  indifferentism,  Mammon- 
worship  and  sensuous  materialism,  the  famous  doctrine  of 
Man  a  Machine.  Other  minor  legislatic  objections  v/e  easily 
pass  in  silence.  The  Sunday-Sabbath  may  thus  prove  to  be 
the  Rubicon  passage,  the  bridge  leading  from  Judaism  out 
into  the  Gentile  camp.  The  grand-children  of  such  ancestors 
may  soon  scofif  and  sneer  at  those  old  benighted,  "damned" 
Sabbath-Jews!".  ..The  iron  logic  of  things  is:  If  you  accept 
the  flag,  you  must  take  with  it  too,  its  principle.  Sunday  means 
Non-Judaism.    Considering  the  infinitessimal  Jewish  minority. 


194  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

to  take  Sunday  in  the  service  of  Judaism,  is  just  as  feasible 
as :  to  dash  down  a  steep  mountain,  with  impetuous,  youthful 
stellions — in  order  to  avoid  the  abyss  below.  Look  to  such  recent 
Sunday-Sabbath  attempts,  here  and  there.  At  first  people  flocked 
to  see  its  workings,  it  was  a  marvelous  success !  After  a  genera- 
tion its  results  are,  indifTerentism,  conversion,  nihilism. 

Still  we  must  not  close  our  eyes  to  the  reverse-sides,  as  the 
ostrich  hides  its  head,  when  pursued  by  an  enemy.  There  is 
no  denial  that  the  social  conditions  are  threatening.  Our  Non- 
Jewish  American  fellow-citizens  are  all  in  business,  competi- 
tion is  pressing  and  a  great  majority  of  our  coreligionists 
believe  they  can  not  afford  to  vacate  on  the  Sabbath,  the  holi- 
days and  besides,  the  Sundays !  The  Mosaic  Sabbath  in  fact 
is  neglected,  hence  no  Sabbath,  no  worship,  no  religion,  no 
instruction ;  less  of  morals,  and  of  intellectuality ;  wild  chase 
for  money  and  sensuality,  that  means  decadence ;  an  awful 
prospect  for  the  once  "kingdom  of  priests  and  holy  nation." — 
Under  such  conditions  to  try  Sunday-Sabbath  is  tantamount 
to  strike  off  the  head — in  order  to  cure  the  patient !  Why  not 
rather  try,  for  worship,  the  Friday  evening,  or  the  Sabbath 
afternoon?  Why  not  begin  insisting  on  the  Sabbath-rest  in 
the  sanctum  of  the  family?  Until  relief  will  come  from  other 
quarters,  the  advance  of  liberal  Christianity  towards  the  Deca- 
logue? Until  the  Jews  will  gather  up  courage  to  fully  restore 
the  Sabbath  of  the  Sinaic  Religion?  There  is  a  way  where 
there  is  a  will ! 

"No!  replicates  the  practical  sociologist.  No!  there  can  be 
no  will  when  there  is  no  way  out  of  the  dire  dilemma.  Insist- 
ing on  the  seventh-day-rest  makes  the  Jew  ominously  clash  with 
the  hundred-fold  non-Jewish  majority !  We  not  only  lose  their 
good  will,  but  also  our  family's  daily  bread.  To  vacate  two- 
days  weekly,  in  busy  America,  will  infallibly  ruin  us  commer- 
cially, and  soon  alas,  socially.  It  will  re-erect  the  old  pulled 
down  Ghetto-walls.  It  will  condemn  us  to  a  perpetual  goluth, 
exile.  And  for  what  purpose?  To  whose  profit?  Our  modern 
Sunday  rest-day  is  a  purely  civil  institution.  It  aims  solely  at 
man's  best  bodily  and  moral  interests,  not  at  credos,  religion 
and  metaphysics.  No  body  identifies  it  with  Trinity  or  Unity, 
with  God's  creation  or  the  ascension;  The  ancient  rabbis  added 
an  entire  month  at  will  to  the  year,  changing  all  the  holidays 


THEORETICAL  MEN   ON   SUNDAY.  195 

for  pmall  considerations . .  .  Why  can  we  not  do  a  day  in  such 
stress?  Man  needs  a  day  for  recuperation,  recreation  and  men- 
tal elevation;  the  metaphysical  or  the  religio-symbolical  and 
the  historical  back-grounds  and  considerations  have  now  lost 
their  import.  God  rests  not  on  the  Sabbath,  He  being  the  Active 
Principle;  and  each  planet  having  its  own  day,  the  Sabbath 
is  but  earthly.  God  requires  worship  on  any  day.  A  life  of 
duty  is  the  highest  divine  service.  We,  men,  need  a  Rest. 
Why  not  take  it  when  practically  offered  by  society,  the  State, 
by  the  immense  majority,  giving  scope  to  really  universal 
peace  and  recuperation  and,  at  the  same  time  bridging  over  the 
chasms  of  sect,  sad  history  and  old  prejudices?  All  coincides  here 
for  peace  and  good  will,  nothing  is  left  out  except,  mostly,  arti- 
ficial symboHsm,  petty,  priestly  Shiboleth! .  . .  .  Here  stands 
Hercules  at  the  cross-ways.  The  Talmud  refers  to  the  prophet 
Elijah  (tiqu)  the  settling  of  such  hard  cases.  In  the  messianic 
times  when  myth  will  vanish  and  reason  rule  supreme,  then  this 
difficulty  will  easily  be  removed. 

In  our  discussion  of  the  second  Decalogue,  in  Deuteronomy, 
we  have  enlarged  on  this  topic  and  shall  here  add  but  this : 
That  in  extreme  circumstances  Israel  would  find  some  clue  to 
the  hard  solution  of  the  difficult  problem  even  in  Bible  and 
Talmud.  So  III  M.  18.5  reads :  "Ye  shall  observe  my  statutes 
and  my  judgments  which  a  man  shall  do  and  live  by  them." 
This  the  Rabbis  (Sanhedrin.  .  .and  oft  elsewhere)  rigorously 
and  literally  interpret:  "My  statutes  and  judgments  which  a 
man  shall  perform  in  order  to  live,  not  to  die."  This  means 
that  the  Mosaic  legislation  aims  at  rendering  man  happy  and 
hail,  not  to  shorten  his  life  and  render  him  miserable.  There- 
fore the  Rabbis  enacted,  that  in  times  of  distress  when  "the 
Jew  is  forced  to  choose  between  trespassing  over  any  com- 
mandments or  death,  then  in  self-preservation,  he  shall  tres- 
pass and  save  his  life ;"  except :  Idolatry,  incest  and  murder, 
these  three  alone  he  shall  not  commit,  but  rather  die.  All  the 
other  Commandments,  he  may  neglect  in  order  to  save  his 
life."  If  now  our  Sunday-Sabbath  advocates  would  seriously 
succeed  to  prove  that  the  Jew,  in  this  twentieth  century,  in 
the  civilized  part  of  the  world,  has  come  to  such  a  pass,  viz. : 
that  the  observation  of  the  Mosaic  seventh-day-Sabbath  would 
make  him  starve,  then  there  would  be  ground  for  a  plea. 


196  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

So  says  Maimonides  Guide  III,  41  :  "Know  that  concern- 
ing transgressions,  the  distinction  is  fourfold :  firstly  is :  com- 
pelled transgression,  by  vis  major;  secondly  by  mistake  and 
involuntarily;  thirdly  intentionally;  fourthly  high-handedly. 
Now,  compelled  transgression  is  not  punishable  and  there  is 
no  sin  here  whatever.  Unintentional  transgression  implies  sin 
and  requires  atonement,  but  there  is  no  punishment  for  such. 
Intentional  transgression  entails  the  due,  prescribed  punish- 
ment. Whilst  he  who  transgresses  spitefully,  high-handedly, 
publicly,  willfully,  to  show  his  contempt  and  dissent  from  the 
Thora,  his  avowed  antagonism  to  the  Law,  he  is  termed  a 
blasphemer  and  deserves  all  the  rigor  of  the  Statutes." 

This  explains  why  the  Spanish  Marranos,  compelled  to  go 
to  Church  and  outwardly  to  conform  to  the  dominant  religion, 
called  themselves  Onossim,  viz. :  compelled  to  conversion,  not 
voluntary  apostates.  Submitting  to  force,  by  soldiers  and 
monks,  they  believed  to  be  excused  and  not  incur  the  punish- 
ment of  idolatry;  at  the  same  time  assuming  that  the  Church 
of  Torquemada  and  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  were  not  idola- 
trous, an  assumption  which  may  well  be  contested.  Original 
Christianity  surely  is  not,  image  worship  is.  Now  when  the  idols 
and  images  will  be  abolished,  with  their  myths  and  prejudices, 
then  even  the  hard  Sabbath  problem  will  be  easily  solved. 

APPEAL  FOR  THE  SABBATH. 

Not  trying  to  raise  the  veil  of  the  future,  leaving  human  destiny 
to  Providence,  let  us  conclude :  We  have  seen  that  Sunday  is 
a  relic  of  ancient  polytheism,  originally  devoted  to  the  Sun-god 
of  mythology ;  that  its  later  ideas  are :  Man-god,  divine  incarna- 
tion, God  dying  on  the  Cross,  to  retrieve  the  world,  spoiled  by 
the  devil,  and  man  corrupted  by  original  sin;  next  it  means 
resurrection,  ascension,  atonement,  trinity  or  God  three  and  still 
one,  redeeming  by  his  blood,  and  his  crucifixion  a  fraction  of 
humanity  and  abandoining  its  major  part  to  eternal  Hell-fires, 
etc.  Sunday-Sabbath  is  thus  the  first  ring  of  that  gradually 
forged,  dogmatic,  cast-iron  chain  that  begins  with  the  triune 
divinity  and  closes  with  infallibility,  fatalism  and  eternal  hell. 
Whilst  the  Sabbath  of  the  Decalogue  is,  a  priori,  the  living  pro- 
test against  all  that.  It  teaches  God-One,  pure  Spirit,  Creator 
of  the  best  possible  universe,   Eternal,   All-powerful   and   All- 


APPEAL  FOR  THE  SABBATH.  197 

benign;  it  teaches  man  free  and  responsible,  capable  of  working 
out  his  own  salvation,  by  choosing  right  and  doing  the  good. 
This  represents  Sabbath  and  that  does  Sunday.  Now,  well 
acquainted  with  the  platform  of  each,  compare  and  choose !  See, 
American  Jews,  whether  you  can  shift  the  Sabbath  to  the  Sunday  ? 

There  is  but  one  alternative,  viz :  Whosoever  accepts  trinity, 
atonement  and  resurrection,  a  man-god  and  incarnation,  a  world 
corrupted  by  the  devil,  and  man  eternally  ruined  by  original  sin 
since  Adam's  fall — whosoever  declares  that  Israel's  martyrdom 
for  these  last  15  centuries  has  been  a  folly,  an  ostentation  and  a 
crime,that  he  should  now  yield  to  the  above  ideas,  not  care  for 
reason,  conviction,  truth  and  their  consequences,  give  in  to  the 
vociferation  of  Anti-Semitism  and  pass  over  to  the  majority — 
let  him  accept  the  Sunday-Sabbath  with  its  accompanying  plat- 
form. But  whosoever  accepts  the  doctrine  of  God-One,  incor- 
poreal, pure-Spirit,  eternal,  Creator  of  the  world,  for  good,  and  of 
man  for  freedom,  virtue  and  humanely  possible  happiness ;  that 
Israel  has  a  mission,  a  mission  divine  and  socially  humane,  all 
important  to  mankind ;  that  he  has  suffered  martyrdom  for  the 
great  interests  of  mankind ;  that  his  religion  should  descend  to 
his  children  and  they  continue  to  teach  and  exemplify  those  doc- 
trines until,  not  only  the  chosen  few,  but  the  Gentile  masses  will 
accept  and  act  upon  them ;  whosoever  acknowledges  as  his  credo : 
Hear,  O  Israel,  God  is  one — he  will  not  yield  to  the  Sunday- 
Sabbath,  the  seal  of:  God  the  father,  the  Son  and  the  Holy 
Ghost ;  he  will  adhere  to  the  Sabbath  of  the  Decalogue,  the 
symbol  and  0th  Berith  of  God,  One,  sole  Creator  and  Providence. 
He  will  cling  to  principle,  common  sense,  conscience  and  the  great 
ethical  interests  of  mankind ;  he  will  abide  by  the  Sabbath  of  the 
Ten  Commandments,  of  Sinai,  without  change,  compromise  or 
abridgement ! 

American  Israel !  Having  struggled  through  these  last  dreary 
fifteen  centuries,  having  powerfully  assisted  to  liberalize  western 
mankind,  living  now  as  citizens  of  this  free  United  States,  built 
upon  biblical,  non-sectarian  grounds,  where  State  and  Church  are 
rigidly  separated,  where  race,  creed  and  conscience  are  not  to  be 
interfered  with, — shall  we,  now  and  here,  yield  to  what  our  ances-> 
tors  did  not  in  the  Ghetto,  in  poverty  and  cruel  persecution? 
Brethren,  it  is  your  duty,  your  interest  and  your  honor  to  stand 


198  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

by  your  millennial,  your  own  flag,  by  your  own  Sabbath !  Breth- 
ren, show  your  children  that  you  have  a  conscience  and  a  prin- 
ciple, that  you  are  a  nationality  standing  on  historic  grounds; 
not  for  business,  but  for  moral,  rational  and  humanitarian  inter- 
ests ;  that  you  stand  for  principle !  Reformers,  what-for  all 
reforms,  if  one  should  not  care  for  either  form,  essence  or  prin- 
ciple? Orthodox,  what  use  of  all  the  old  forms,  if  one  neglects 
the  most  venerable,  practical  institution  of  Mosaism,  symbolizing 
its  highest  ethics  and  doctrines !  Sisters  in  Israel,  in  your  homes 
with  your  young  ones,  "Remember  the  Sabbath  day  to  keep  it 
holy!"  Begin  restoring  the  Sabbath  at  your  own  hearth,  make 
your  house  a  sanctuary  by  adhering  to  your  religion !  Orthodox, 
here  is  the  oldest  form  of  Judaism ;  cling  to  it !  Reformers,  here 
is  the  most  pregnant  doctrine,  the  oldest,  the  nev/est  and  the 
latest  reform :  Observe  the  Sabbath  day !  Women  in  Judah,  your 
husbands  advance  the  plea  of  competition,  bread,  iron  necessity. 
What  hinders  you  from  having  the  Sabbath  kept  in  the  family- 
sanctuary,  so  sweet  and  lovely  in  this  land  of  freedom,  but  vul- 
garized and  profaned  by  the  lack  of  Sabbath  and  holidays! 
Sisters  in  Israel,  you  have  ever  been  the  great  hope,  the  anchor 
of  Salvation  of  your  people.  When  the  billows  of  persecution 
and  prejudice  raged  most  violently  against  it,  your  noble  mothers 
affronted  with  magnanimous  courage,  all  the  hatred,  cruelty  and 
misery  of  long,  dark,  barbarous  ages.  Your  sex  was  the  immov- 
able rock  amid  the  raging  dreary  sea  of  oppression.  Your  noble 
mothers  stood  there  unshaken  and  undismayed,  the  anchors  of  the 
tottering  ship  of  Judah,  setting  an  heroic  example  to  their  hus- 
bands and  sons,  how  to  fight  for  a  great  cause.  Ye  present  daugh- 
ters of  such  mothers,  ye  descendants  of  Miriam,  Deborah,  Jael, 
Judith,  Maccabean  women,  show  that  you  have  not  degenerated 
from  your  ancestors.  Brothers  and  sisters  of  Israel,  remember 
your  history,  your  task,  your  ethical  interests  and  stand  by  them. 
Your  part  now  is  as  great  as  ever  your  ancestors'  was.  The 
present  crisis  is  ominous,  an  attack  outside  and  inside  the  ranks. 
Brothers  and  Sisters,  Reformers  and  Orthodox,  you  know,  Anti- 
Semitism  outside.  But  remember  that  inside,  the  havoc  which 
infidelity,  lucre,  coarse  materialism,  ignorance,  frivolity,  time- 
serving and  mean  make-shift,  open  or  in  disguise,  have  already 
wrought  in  our  ranks.  There  is  no  use  mincing  and  hushing, 
palliating  and  sembling.     The  signs  of  decadence  stare  into  the 


APPEAL  FOR  THE  SABBATH.  199 

eyes:  Scepticism  and  immorality,  irreverence  to  God  and  to 
parents,  to  honor  and  to  virtue,  neglect  of  true  culture,  serious 
study  and  noble  ideality ;  the  mad  chase  for  Mammon  and  sensu- 
ality, at  the  risk  even  of  decency,  health  and  economical  welfare. 
Brothers  and  Sisters !  American  Israel  has  come  to  a  crisis.  The 
Sabbath  is  the  high-water  mark.  Stand  by  your  flag.  It  is  a 
great  and  awful  turnpoint,  this  alternative!  It  is  not  the  cause 
of  a  mere  form,  an  old  observance.  No,  your  flag  is  at  stake.  It 
is  the  question :  Shall  you  change  the  flag  at  the  imminent  risk 
of  endangering  the  leading  principles  ?  American  Israel,  cling  to 
your  flag,  it  represents  both,  the  doctrine  of  Israel  and  the  civili- 
zation of  mankind.     Will  and  you  can  ! 


VI.  Study.— nUAh  PIETY  AND  REVERENCE. 

We  have  seen  that  the  Decalogue  is  the  Organic  Law  of  Israel. 
It  is  of  mankind.  It  begins  with  settling  his  firm  state  basis  upon 
the  God-belief.  As  the  universe  has  God  as  its  author,  even  so 
the  State,  the  citizen  and  the  people  of  Israel,  God  is  their  author, 
liberator  and  Providence:  "I  am  thy  God,  who  has  freed  thee 
from  the  yoke  of  Egypt.  Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods. 
Thou  shalt  not  utter  his  name  frivolously."  That  is  the  pre- 
amble to  the  Organic  Eaw.  Frt  n  that  it  proceeds  to  insti- 
tute the  Sabbath  for  man,  the  bridge  and  connecting  link 
between  the  Deity  and  humanity,  the  epoch  when  the  divine 
transfuses  the  human,  sanctifies  and  elevates  it.  Now  with  the 
fifth  Commandment  the  organic  Constitution  ari  ives  at  the  human 
society.  It  establishes  firmly  the  family  as  the  rock,  the  corner- 
stone and  unit,  from  which  society,  people  and  state  gradually 
develop.  What  is  the  chief  condition,  sine  quae  non,  of  a  solid 
society?  A  solid  family;  when  the  family  is  pure  and  sound,  the 
people  and  the  country  are ;  if  not,  not.  What  constitutes  a 
solid,  strong  family?  The  correct  relation  of  its  members,  that 
between  parent  and  child :  Honor  and  reverence  thy  father  and 
thy  mother,  that  thy  days  in  the  land  given  thee,  may  endure." 
(II  M.,  20-13.)  Wilt  thou  man,  live  long  and  prosperous ?  Rev- 
erence and  cherish  thy  parents!  Wilt  thou  stay  permanently 
in  thine  own  country  ?  Respect  and  honor  thy  parents !  Here  is 
a  wholesome  lesson  of  wise  conservatism.  Wilt  thou  prolong  and 
sweeten  thy  own  days  ?  Then,  prolong  and  sweeten  those  of  thy 
predecessors.  Do  that  from  motives  of  simple  prudence ;  do  it 
from  elevated  moral  motives,  gratitude  for  good  received,  rever- 
ence for  progenitors,  elders,  teachers,  patrons.  Reverence  them 
as  you  do  God  in  heaven,  they  are  your  Providence  on  earth. 
The  Rabbis  place  such  reverence  among  those  leading  duties, 
"the  principal  of  which  is  reserved  for  the  hereafter,  and  the 
fruit  for  this  world ;"  or  the  principal  abides  with  the  future 
prosperity  of  society  and  the  fruit  for  the  individual  and  the 
family."  This  great  duty  is  enjoined  time  and  again  in  the  Pen- 
tateuch, Talmud  and  Codices  ;i  it  is  put  frequently  in  juxtaposi- 


III  M..  XX,  15,  17.  —Ill  M.,  XIX,  3,  and  XX,  9.   -V  M.,  XXVII,  16,  etc. 
Kidushin  30b,  40a.     Tur  Joreh  Dea  Kibed  Ab.,  240-241. 


FILIAL  PIETY  AND  REVERENCE.  201 

tion  with  the  Sabbath  rest.  The  death  penalty,  even  stoning  by 
the  Congregation  is  set  upon  its  transgression.  Gross  disrespect 
is  criminally  punished  and  even  gross  disobedience.^  We  must 
not  forget  that  these  laws  were  enacted  thousands  of  years  ago 
and  may  have  been  the  view  of  thousands  more,  in  the  Orient, 
at  the  very  dawn  of  societies,  rude  times,  later  mitigated  by  the 
Rabbis.2  Nevertheless  the  principle,  due  respect,  reverence,  and 
even  obedience  when  young,  to  parents,  holds  good  to  this  day. 
It  is  a  perfectly  natural,  psychological  instinct  strikingly  illus- 
trated by  a  well  known  tale :  An  irreverent,  adult  son  bade  his 
own  little  boy  to  fetch  up  from  the  cellar  an  old,  mouldy  blanket, 
to  cover  his  sire  in  the  garret.  The  youngster  brought  up  half 
of  the  blanket.  "Why  did  you  not  bring  the  whole?"  asked  the 
father.  "The  other  half  I  reserved  for  you,  Papa,  when  old," 
replied  the  boy. — Youth  is  much  prone  to  exaggerate  the  value  of 
youth  and  underrate  that  of  age,  wisdom,  experience.  Hence 
the  frequency  of  the  commandment  of  filial  piety  and  reverence 
for  parents.  No  doubt  the  parents  owe  their  children  just  as 
much  in  love  and  support  as  the  children  owe  reverence  and  obe- 
dience to  them.  But  parental  tenderness  and  selfsacrifice  is  by 
far  louder  and  deeper  seated  than  filial  piety.  Both  are  natural 
instincts,  but  of  unequal  strength ;  because  the  first  is  far  more 
important  for  bringing  up  the  race.  Parental  love  needs  no  long 
legal  repetitions.  Without  any  express  law,  parents  do  daily 
sacrifice  themselves  to  their  young.  Not  always  do  so  the  young 
towards  parents.  The  cause  is  plain.  Each  present  generation 
awaits  its  future  from  the  coming  generation,  not  from  the  past 
one.  Each  individual  desires  its  own  perpetuation  and  this  can 
be  attained  only  by  offspring  carefully  reared.  Nature,  there- 
fore, implanted  deepest  the  parental  instinct.  We  delight  in  the 
success  of  our  children,  just  as  in  our  own.  Whilst  the  ofif- 
spring's  love  and  reverence  towards  parents  rnust  be  cultivated 
by  society  and  by  law  commanded,  or  else  it  may  be  neglected, 
since  man  is  wholly  ingrossed  by  the  future,  and  has  little  time 
left  for  the  past.  And  nevertheless,  though  less  than  parental 
love,  filial  piety  is  important  to  society;  for  if  children  will  be 
generally  forgetful  and  disrespectful  to  parents,  then  nobody  will 


IV  M.  XX,  18.     The  rebellious  son. 

sSanhedrin,  71a,  renders  death  penalty  nigh  impossible  for  the  rebel- 
lious son. 


202  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

care  to  be  a  parent,  to  have  a  family,  provide  and  care  for  chil- 
dren who,  thus,  will  perish  from  lack  of  parental  love.  "Honor 
thy  parents  that  thou  mayest  live  long,"  is  deep  psychology  and 
sociology,  not  only  ethics.  Besides  the  natural  bent  and  instinct, 
parents  must  also  be  hopeful  that,  in  rearing  a  family,  they  grow 
for  themselves  friends,  companions  and  defenders  for  their  old 
age,  who  will  stand  up  for  them  and  fight  their  battles  when  weak 
with  age.  To  such  parental  resource  alludes  the  excellent  verse, 
Ps.  127.5:  Happy  is  the  man  who  thus  provides  his  quiver  (with 
children).  They  will  plead  his  cause  in  the  city-gate.^  No 
doubt  this  motive  is  selfish,  but  the  true  Legislator  never  despises 
and  neglects  rational  and  humane  selfishness,  a  leading  constitu- 
ent of  human  nature :  "The  Thora  is  given  to  man,  not  to  angels." 
True  idealism  must  be  founded  in  realism,  or  it  is  a  sham. 

THE  FAMILY. 

Filial  piety  has  ever  been  a  leading  trait  of  the  Jewish  family. 
We  have  frequently  alluded  to  it  in  our  Scriptural  writings.  We 
saw  it  in  the  family  of  the  patriarchs,  in  the  generation  of  the 
Exodus,  and  it  was  reverently  noticed  in  history  ever  since,  down 
to  the  Ghetto  and  the  19th  century  passed  by.  When  our  fathers 
lived  in  the  European  backlanes,  in  the  gloom,  poverty  and 
wretchedness  of  ages  gone  by,  there  was  one  gem  illuminating 
and  cheering  that  long  dark  night  of  exile.  That  was  the  Jewish 
family,  its  sweet  intimacy,  the  love  and  devotion  of  the  parents,  the 
adherence  of  the  several  fraternal  members,  the  respect,  profound 
veneration  and  obedience  of  the  children  towards  the  parents  and 
the  love  of  the  parents  to  the  children,  the  mutual  devotion  of  hus- 
band and  wife,  the  sweet,  noble  relation  and  the  inviolable 
sacredness  of  the  marital  union,  the  simple  biblical  man  and  wife 
building  up  the  family ;  he  the  toiling  breadwinner,  she  the 
patient,  cheering  helpmeet  and  assistant,  both  eating  the  bread  of 
innocence  with  tears  and  resignation,  posing  the  solid  cornerstone 
of  the  Ghetto-Society  with  a  family  reared  in  virtue  and  strong  in 
practical  life.  As  a  beakon-light  on  the  tempestuous  ocean,  the 
Jewish  family,  the  parental  selfsacrifice  and  the  filial  piety  illu- 
mined and  cheered  the  gloom  of  the  Jewish  Ghetto. 


iSo  recently  the  great  financier,  Harriman,  declared  children  a  cause 
of  practical  success. 


THE  FAMILY  IN  AMERICA.  203 

American  youth,  let  not  that  noble  gem  be  plucked  from  your 
family  diadem.  L,et  us  be  frank:  There  is  something  in  our 
modern  democracy,  liberty,  equality  and  easy  going  ways,  which 
tends  towards  marring,  paling  and  deteriorating  that  millenial 
trait,  reverence;  which  causes  carelessness,  impertinence  and 
insubordination  to  invade  the  family-hearth.  Beware  of  that! 
Preserve  that  sacred  gem,  that  precious  heir-loom,  intact  in  your 
houses,  guard  it  as  your  eyeball.  It  is  more  costly  and  precious 
than  all  our  gobelins,  brussels,  velvets  and  laces.  Let  us  remem- 
ber that  all  we  are  and  all  we  have,  our  blood  and  our  force,  our 
name,  fame  and  standing,  our  education  and  station  in  life,  our 
powers  and  capacities  physical  and  mental,  all,  come  from  our 
parents,  we  are  simply  a  younger  copy,  their  rejuvenation,  the 
result  of  their  bodies  and  minds,  their  labors,  results  and  self- 
sacrifices.  We  are  their  bodily  immortality,  their  glory  and 
sweetest,  noblest  hope,  their  regeneration  and  second  self. 

Moreover,  remember  that  your  parents  are  European  emi- 
grants, men  and  women  who  have  left  their  old  home,  associates 
and  friends,  the  green  spot  of  their  cradle  and  the  sacred  hillocks 
of  their  fathers'  ashes.  They  have  left  all  and  come  hither, 
friendless,  speechless,  penniless,  cheerless,  to  fight  here  anew  the 
bitter  battle  of  life,  to  build  up  here  a  home,  a  community,  a 
schoolhouse  for  you,  American  born  youths !  Can  you  do  less 
than  "Reverence  your  father  and  mother,  that  your  days  may 
be  long  and  successful  upon  this  your  new  God-given  native 
land?" 

Let  me  quote  here  the  following  in  intimate  connection  with 
our  theme :  Americanism  in  France,  by  Jules  Simon,  deploring 
the  Influence  of  Western  Ideas. 

The  opinions  of  M.  Jules  Simon,  the  great  French  writer, 
philosopher  and  ex-minister  of  education,  says  the  New  York 
Tribune,  1892,  are  always  read  with  interest  and  profit.  He  is  a 
friend  of  America  and  an  admirer  of  her  history  and  many  of 
her  institutions.  But  he  does  not  hesitate,  while  praising 
American  virtues,  to  throw  a  strong  searchlight  upon  Ameri- 
can vices. 

"I  love  the  Americans,"  he  said  recently  in  an  article  con- 
tributed to  a  Parisian  journal,  "but  I  do  not  love  Americanism 
so  well. 


204  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

"In  1492  Europeans  discovered  America  and  transported 
Europe  to  American  shores.  Americans,  having  flourished  and 
become  very  powerful  in  the  course  of  four  centuries,  have 
invaded  Europe  and  transported  America  here. 

"The  American  having  no  past,  always  looks  toward  the 
future.  He  is  a  traveler  who  does  not  believe  that  his  journey 
is  ever  finished.  In  marching  ahead  of  us,  he  accustoms  us  to 
move  on,  too,  and  for  that  I  am  thankful.  He  induces  us  also 
to  accustom  ourselves  to  lighter  luggage,  but  for  that  I  am 
less  grateful.  Gladly  would  I  lighten  material  baggage,  but 
sentimental  baggage  and  burdens  I  renounce  with  reluctance. 
I  believe  that  the  twentieth  century,  which  I  shall  never  see, 
will  have  its  merits ;  but  the  sixteenth,  the  seventeenth  and  the 
eighteenth  centuries,  which  I  know,  were  beautiful  enough. 

"During  these  centuries  now  past  there  was  an  institution 
which,  I  acknowledge,  has  been  retarded  in  its  progress,  but 
which  made  life  very  sweet  and  very  pure ;  it  was  the  family. 

"One  lived  then  at  home.  One  died  in  the  house  where  he 
was.  born.  One  closed  the  eyes  of  his  father.  There  was  no 
corner  in  the  blessed  home  which  did  not  recall  a  caress  or  a 
precept  of  the  mother  of  the  family.  She  was  always  the 
model  and  the  apostle  of  virtue.  She  was  venerated,  and  on 
her  account  her  whole  sex  was  venerated.  There  was  no 
question  then  of  lax  morals,  of  crimes  or  passion.  The  law, 
respect,  love  received  and  given,  honor  and  probity  inherited 
and  treasured,  were  shields  against  crime  and  against  error. 
People  said  of  a  man :  'He  was  a  man  well  born ;  he  was  a 
man  well  educated.'  One  aspired  to  become  the  founder  of  a 
family. 

"I  picture  to  myself  a  happy  and  virtuous  family  of  that 
past  time.  It  is  respectable  and  not  too  austere.  It  is  acquainted 
with  the  pleasures  of  life,  but  they  are  pleasures  in  accord  with 
duty  and  self-respect.  It  cultivates  science  and  good  literature,  and 
pays  no  heed  to  frivolous  literature.  The  art  cultivated  in 
such  a  family  is  only  that  grand  art  which  awakens  ideas  of 
eternity  in  the  human  mind.  The  members  of  the  family  re- 
ceive and  associate  with  only  polished  people,  having  the  same 
beliefs  and  similar  tastes.  They  have  the  gift  of  tears,  as  well 
as  that  of  smiles,  because  they  feel  strong  enough  to  acknowl- 
edge that  they  are  moved  to  enthusiasm  and  rapture  by  heroic 
deeds  and  beautiful  works. 


THE  FAMILY  IN  AMERICA.  205 

"And  again  I  fancy  a  family  of  persons  pressed  and  busy, 
who  disdain  everything  that  is  not  new  and  trample  upon 
everything  which  might  interfere  with  their  progress.  The 
father  and  mother  have  merely  consented  to  marry  one  an- 
other; the  marriage  is  a  matter  of  arrangement,  business  or 
convenience.  As  honest  people  they  observe  the  binding  stip- 
ulations until  they  find  them  too  strong,  too  heavy.  They  then 
announce  in  a  straightforward  way  that  they  wish  to  separate, 
and  ask  a  magistrate  to  put  an  end  to  their  union,  thus  declar- 
ing publicly  that  they  love  in  other  places.  The  children  do 
not  bear  the  yoke  of  obedience  as  in  that  age  when  it  was 
absolutely  necessary  that  they  be  guided  and  protected.  Even 
in  this  happy  age,  however,  they  must  also  be  supported,  and 
this  necessity  is  the  principal  band  which  binds  them  to  their 
parents.  At  the  age  of  one  and  twenty  years  they  are  eman- 
cipated by  law,  unless  they  have  already  had  recourse  to  the 
courts,  which  can  shorten  the  time  of  servitude  in  the  family. 
The  strong  and  holy  bond  of  former  years  has  given  place  to 
the  marriage  of  adventure,  facilitated  by  the  divorce,  and  to  a 
guardianship  made  easy  by  the  boarding  school  and  by  the 
laws  governing  the  emancipation  from  family  control. 

"Again,  while  the  family  exists  as  a  family — menaced  by 
divorce  and  these  laws — it  is  often  diminished  as  much  as  pos- 
sible, in  accordance  with  the  decrees  of  fashion.  The  child  is 
first  sent  to  a  nurse,  and  afterward,  whether  boy  or  girl,  is 
placed  in  a  boarding  school.  The  father  and  mother  have  a 
house  where  they  receive  their  friends.  The  father  deserts  it 
for  the  club.  He  finds  in  the  club  the  solitude  which  he  desires ; 
games  of  chance,  if  they  be  to  his  liking,  and  all  the  luxuries 
which  he  cannot  have  at  home.  He  even  goes  there  to  take  his 
meals.  With  the  day  at  the  Exchange  and  the  evening  with 
his  friends,  what  becomes  of  his  wife?  She  calls  upon  her 
neighbors ;  she  makes  her  own  plans ;  she  prepares  herself  by 
degrees  for  a  divorce. 

"If  we  are  to  believe  the  enemies  of  the  great  American 
republic,  there  are  the  great  hotels  there  as  auxiliaries  of  the 
clubs,  hotels  which  are  worlds  within  themselves.  They  have 
their  good  points ;  it  is  possible  to  live  within  them  and  escape 
scrutiny,  and  they  ofifer  a  great  variety  of  entertainment.  One 
may  sleep  there  and  thus  dispense  with  the  hypocrisy  of  having 


2o6  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE 

his  own  fireside.  Monsieur  and  Madame  may  have  their  own 
rooms  there  and  eat  at  the  table  d'hote.  It  is  not  necessary, 
even,  that  the  rooms  adjoin  one  another. 

"We  must  remember  the  dinners  also,  as  well  as  the  clubs 
and  hotels.  I  do  not  speak  of  official  dinners,  of  the  grand 
dinners  given  for  display,  of  the  small  dinners  for  friends.  .  .  . 
The  dinners  of  which  I  speak  are  an  institution  which  grows  daily 
and  which  furnish  the  married  man,  who  wishes  to  live  as  a  bache- 
lor, with  excuses  for  not  remaining  at  home. 

"There  are  more  dinners,"  continues  M.  Simon,  "than  one 
can  count.  There  are  the  annual  dinner  of  the  Institute,  the 
monthly  dinner  of  the  Academy  of  Fine  Arts,  the  dinner  of 
the  Economists,  the  dinner  of  the  Society  of  Political  Econ- 
omy, the  dinner  of  the  men  of  letters,  the  dinner  of  the  Univer- 
sal Literary  Association,  the  dinner  of  the  Alpine  Club,  the 
dinner  of  the  Celtic  Club. .  .  ;  it  would  fill  the  columns  of  a  news- 
paper to  recount  them  all .  .  .  What  an  excuse  to  live  away  from 
home,  to  have  no  home,  to  be  a  husband  only  occasionally.  .  .1 
know  that  these  customs  do  not  preclude  a  Pasteur  and  Alexandre 
Dumas ;  but  the  former  custom  did  not  preclude  a  Descartes  or 
Corneille.  Emancipation  is  necessary,  but  too  much  is  not  neces- 
sary. If  a  man  wishes  to  grow,  he  should  not  detach  himself  from 
the  world.  He  can  do  nothing  without  the  aid  of  others .  .  .  The 
master  of  the  future  is  the  past." 

REVERENCE  TO  COUNTRY. 

Our  Fifth  Commandment  transgresses  the  family,  it  has  a 
wider  scope;  it  does  not  refer  only  to  the  relation  of  the  bodily 
parent  and  child,  it  alludes  also  to  parental  love  and  filial  piety 
of  another  kind  and  a  vaster  compass,  to  reverence  towards 
our  spiritual  parents,  towards  God  and  religion,  country,  na- 
tionality, historical  associations,  teachers,  ethical  models  and 
ideals.  We  have  spoken  of  the  reverence  due  to  parents.  After 
our  parents,  the  next  reverence,  American  youth,  we  owe,  is 
to  our  Country.  Honor  the  United  States  country,  cherish 
the  United  States  people,  respect  its  laws,  and  institutions, 
uphold  its  humanitarian  principles  with  its  Union,  its  Consti- 
tution and  its  grand  preamble,  securing  life,  liberty  and  pur- 
suit of  happiness  to  all  its  inhabitants,  guaranteeing  freedom 


REVERENCE  TO  COUNTRY.  207 

of  conscience,  of  government  by  and  for  the  people,  equality 
of  races  and  separation  of  Church  and  State;  building  up,  for 
the  first  time  in  history,  a  great  country  and  a  powerful  nation, 
without  a  dynasty,  aristocracy  and  dominant  church,  upon  the 
basis  of  one  God,  one  moral  and  political  law,  one  human  race, 
equal  rights  and  duties  to  all  nationalities  and  creeds,  sexes, 
masses  and  classes.  Love  your  fellow-citizens  as  your  fellow- 
men  ;  let  old  prejudices  of  creed,  origin  and  race  vanish,  as  the 
ice  melting  before  the  genial  sun-rays.  The  American  soil  is 
not  stained  with  Jewish  martyrs'  blood ;  the  statute  book  is  free 
of  sectarian  discriminations.  Uphold  the  principles  and  the 
Constitution  of  this  your  vast  and  hopeful  country.  No  use 
hushing!  There  are  tendencies  to  the  contrary,  do  not  let 
them  prevail.  Qualify  yourselves  as  good  and  patriotic  citi- 
zens. Be  peaceful  and  lawabiding,  careful  in  the  selection  of 
your  trade  and  avocations.  Do  each  your  utmost  to  be  a  useful 
factor  in  your  community.  In  this  way :  "honor  thy  American 
fatherland  and  thy  mother,  the  United  States.  Contribute  to 
her  prosperity :  'that  your  days  may  be  long  upon  the  soil  God 
has  given  you." 

REVERENCE  TO  ISRAEL  AND  JUDAISM. 

Older  yet  is  the  reverence  you  owe  to  your  father  Israel  and 
your  mother  religion.  You  are  justly  happy  in  being  native 
Americans.  But  you  should  feel  no  less  proud  of  being  native 
American  Jews.  You  are  citizens  of  the  country  of  Washing- 
ton and  Franklin,  of  Lincoln  and  Garfield.  But  look  still  fur- 
ther back,  you  hail  from  the  country  of  the  hoary  Hebraic 
Patriarchs  and  of  the  Prophets,  mankind's  ethical  teachers. 
Your  ancestors  were  bodily  fed  with  the  wheat  and  the  milk 
of  Karmel  and  Bashan,  your  own  bodies  are  with  those  of  the 
Hudson,  the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi,  whilst  your  souls  are 
nurtured  with  the  ideas  hailing,  both,  from  Horeb,  Karmel  and 
Moriah  and  from  the  Themes,  the  Vistula,  the  Pyrenees  and 
chiefly  the  Teutonic  academies.'  Be  proud  of  your  double 
historic  origin.  All  counted  up,  it  is  the  most  illustrious  in 
mankind's  development.  You  belong  to  a  race  well  tried  in 
the  crucible  of  four  thousand  years'  battles,  and  of  fifteen  cen- 
turies' cruel  persecutions.  If  it  is  true  that  the  fittest  survive, 
your  race  must  count  among  the  best  and  the  strongest.     The 


208  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

civil  law  declares  you  of  age  at  21  to  25  years.  But  the  Law 
of  Judaism  declares  your  majority  at  13  years.  At  13  begins 
your  responsibility,  for  well-born  souls  are  prematurely  ripe.^ 
Remember  well  your  race's  patent  of  nobility,  the  Decalogue 
and  the  several  reverences  it  imposes  upon  you,  by  virtue  of 
being  the  descendants  of  those  strong  men  and  women  who, 
camping  in  the  wilderness,  stood  around  Sinai  and  listened  to 
its  proclamation.  There  are  great  historic  moments  when  men 
stand  nearer  to  heaven,  when  a  question  to  Providence  is  free, 
when  they  can  take  a  glimpse  behind  the  curtains  of  destiny, 
when  they  are,  in  some  sense,  the  moulders  of  their  destiny. 
Such  was  the  hour  of  the  promulgation  of  the  Decalogue  which 
stamped  you  as  the  Providential  Israel,^  the  cham.pions  of  the 
divine  in  the  human,  the  priestly  people  and  holy  nation,  de- 
voted to  the  mental  and  moral  interests  of  mankind.  Remem- 
ber, Juda,  thy  calling! 

American  Jews !  fight  on  the  battles  of  your  people  and 
your  doctrine.  They  are  the  identical  battles  and  interests  of 
entire  mankind,  of  human  civilization.  Your  people  is  nothing 
else  but  their  advance  guard,  and  "your  doctrine  hails  from 
Zion,  the  word  of  God  coming  from  Jerusalem  (Is.  II,  3).  Carry 
aloft  their  banner,  their  triumph  is  mankind's  triumph.  Let 
not  worldly  consideratior^  wealth,  honors,  majority,  example 
tempt  you  to  desertion.  In  the  minority  the  divine  aflatus 
breathes.  Nobody  ever  gained  by  apostasy.  Did  Borne 
Heine,  Cassel,  Gans  gain?  Compare  their,  alas,  tarnished  fame 
with  that  of  Moses  Mendelssohn.  Cling  to  your  flag.  Be  a 
good  Jew  and  it  will  not  harm  you  to  be  a  Jew.  Thousands 
of  converts  would  with  tears  in  the  eyes,  corroborate  that  ex- 
perience. The  king  of  Prussia  for  long  urged  Meyerbeer  to  be 
converted.  Meekly  he  replied:  "Majesty,  do  you  believe  I 
shall  then  write  better  music?"  No,  genius  creates  inspiration, 
apostasy  dries  it  up. 

Well  are  times  somewhat  brighter :  bigotry  is  more  political 
than  fanatical.  The  wheel  and  the  rack,  the  torture  and  anto- 
da-fes  are  no  more  in  use.  Yet  modern  anti-Semitism  is  not 
more  merciful.  The  Russian  pogroms  prove  it.  The  past 
century  has  gained  for  the  western  Jew  his  civil  and  political 


iLes  ames  bien  nees  n'attendent  pas  les  annees.     (Racine  Athalie.) 
2Thou  wrestledst  with  gods  and  men  and  conqueredst.  (I  M.  32,  29.) 


REVERENCE  TO  ISRAEL  AND  JUDAISM.  209 

emancipation,  but  the  social  one  is  yet  to  be  conquered.  The 
prejudices  of  origin,  race  and  sect  have  not  died  out.  To  ex- 
aggerate the  Hebrew's  defects,  to  belittle  his  virtues,  to  curtail 
his  chances,  to  take  advantage  of  his  isolation,  to  ostracise 
him,  push  him  aside,  arouse  the  envy  and  ill  v^rill  of  noble, 
priest,  Philistine  and  mob  against  him,  to  fan  up  and  stir  up  the 
dying  embers  of  fanaticism  against  him,  is  not  yet  out  of 
fashion.  The  Jew  of  the  twentieth  century  is  not  yet  bedded 
upon  roses,  he  must  yet  be  of  gold  to  pass  for  silver.  Such  are 
the  drawbacks  of  every  minority.  But  they  are  compensated 
by  many  advantages.  "The  divine  spirit  breathes  in  the  minor- 
ity," justly  said  Matthew  Arnold.  A  minority  strong  enough 
to  resist,  will  in  time,  acquire  a  tremendous  majority  force  and 
become  the  chariot  of  history.  The  Hebrew  minority  has 
gained,  by  patience,  great  elasticity  of  body  and  mind.  They 
live  in  all  climes,  identify  and  appropriate  to  themselves  the 
best  of  all  civilizations,  control  better  their  capacities  and 
passions,  have  a  higher  standard  of  morality,  more  energy,  so- 
briety, thrift,  working-habits.  That  compensates  for  the  disad- 
vantage of  being  a  minority. 

Well,  young  friends !  reverence  your  nationality  and  your 
doctrine,  conquer  your  full  equality,  raise  the  social  ban,  and 
render  to  the  name  of  Jew  its  pristine  meaning,  its  sterling 
ring,  as  the  oldest  son  of  civilization. ^  Onwards,  struggle  for 
Israel's  doctrine,  ethnical  and  social  position  and  recognition; 
with  courage,  forbearance  and  patience ;  disarm  your  antag- 
onists by  being  a  superior  minority,  by  capacity,  honesty  and 
forgiveness;  by  modesty,  industry  and  frugality.  Fight  with 
the  arms  of  sympathy,  science,  logic  and  common  sense.  Ap- 
peal to  the  common  sense,  to  the  conscience  of  your  more  en- 
lightened American  fellow-citizens :  "Have  we  not  all  one 
father?  Has  not  one  God  created  us?  Have  we  not  all  one 
country,  one  law,  one  interest?  Is  not  the  United  States  built 
upon  the  platform  of :  The  common  fatherhood  of  God,  and 
the  common  brotherhood  of  men?  Does  not  the  Constitution 
guarantee  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  hapiness  to  all  its  in- 
habitants? Have  not  their  dissenting  ancestors,  in  old  Europe, 
suffered  from  the  same  foes,  under  the  same  ostracism?  "Why 
then  fellow-citizens,  should  not  Jew  and  Gentile  in  America 


(II  M.,  4,  22.)     Israel  is  my  first-born  son. 


210  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

be  "brothers?  Why  be  untrue  to  each  other  and  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  fathers. 1  Appeal  to  the  sound  American  common 
sense,  then  the  last  social  discrimination  against  the  Jew  will 
disappear.  You  will  not  be  Hebrews  (strangers)  here,  not  be 
"tolerated,"  no,  you  will  have  here  your  home,  your  fatherland, 
your  full  political  rights  and  your  social  equahty,  as  justly 
respected  fellow-citizens  of  the  Jewish  denomination. 

REVERENCE  TO  CONGREGATION  AND  SYNAGOGUE 

The  next  reverence  you  owe  to  your  Congregation  and  your 
Synagogue.  When  growing  up  to  full  manhood  and  woman- 
hood, be  members  of  some  Hebrew  religious  body.  Remember 
well,  limited  man  must  have  some  standard,  and  badge  of  be- 
longing. Mankind  is  too  large  and  indefinite  and  must  be  sub- 
divided into  many  minor  groups,  as  races,  peoples,  creeds  and 
denominations.  Participate  in  the  privileges  and  in  the  bur- 
dens of  some  such  subdivision  and  congregation.  The  egotist 
hides  his  selfishness  under  the  cloak  of  non-sectarianism.  He 
claims,  "he  is  no  Jew  and  no  Christian,  he  is  a  man."  That  is 
pure  subterfuge.  We  are  too  insignificant  for  rendering  serv- 
ices at  once  to  the  entire  human  race.  We  are  useful  to  man- 
kind by  being  profitable  to  one  fraction  thereof,  there  where 
Providence  has  placed  us ;  to  our  family,  our  kindred,  our 
community,  our  religion,  our  country,  our  historical  associa- 
tions. We  serve  the  human  race  by  serving  some  of  its  sub- 
divisions. Let  us  be  fair,  sympathetic,  and  just  to  all  our 
fellow-men.  But  our  love  and  work  must  be  calculated  for  and 
aim  at  benefitting  one  section  thereof,  then  it  will  benefit  all. 
There  is  room  for  cosmopolitanism  and  for  particularism,  for 
humanity  and  for  sect.  Justice,  liberality  and  good-will  to  all ; 
our  immediate  efforts,  our  special  care,  for  those  of  our  provi- 
dential surroundings !  Say  with  modest  dignity,  with  undis- 
guised satisfaction :  "I  am  a  Jew  and  an  American,  a  citizen 
of  the  youngest  nation  and  a  member  of  the  oldest  race  and 
faith.  I  stand  upon  American  Law  and  I  reach  out  to  that 
of  Sinai.    My  race  represents  the  civilization,  the  religion  elab- 


i(Malachai  II,  15).    Has  not  one  God  created  us,  have  we  not  all  one 
God,  why  shall  we  be  false  to  brethren. . . 


REVERENCE  FOR  EDUCATION.  211 

orated  and  refined  in  the  crucible  of  four  thousand  years,  from 
Mesopotamia  to  the  Hudson  and  the  Rio  Grancfe.  The  heart 
and  kernel  thereof  is  humanitarianism,  but  until  recognized 
and  adopted  universally,  I  must  keep  up  some  forms  and  sym- 
bols special  to  it  and  sectarian.  This  is  the  meaning  of  the 
Jewish  Congregation,  Jewish  forms  and  JewisTi  peculiarities. 
American  Jews,  as  long  as  monotheism,  the  Decalogue,  the 
Bible  and  their  tenets  are  not  yet  universally  accepted  and 
practiced,  as  long  as  we  are  a  "Peculiar  people"  for  holding 
fast  to  them,  so  long  shall  we  need  peculiar  forms :  extra  Hebrew 
worship,  language,  festivals,  race-marriage,  Sabbath-Schools. 
Here  we  are  particular  and  special,  in  any  thing  else  we  are 
plain  and  simple  Americans,  just  and  sympathetic  towards  all 
our  fellow-citizens,  without  any  discrimination  of  race,  creed 
and  origin.  In  that  way  are  Israel,  mankind,  country,  sect  and 
faith  brought  into  full  consonance  and  harmony  by  the  teach- 
ings of  Horeb. 

REVERENCE  FOR  EDUCATION. 

Let  us  now  mention  the  reverence  we  owe  to  education,  ac- 
quisitions of  all  sorts  of  knowledge,  higher  science,  arts,  refine^ 
ment,  manners,  urbanity.  American  youth,  utilize  well  your 
schools,  your  books  and  libraries,  your  scholastic  opportuni- 
ties, all.  Reverence  your  teachers  no  less  than  God  and  par- 
ents.^  It  is  the  teacher  that  develops  your  mind,  nourishes  and 
grows  your  mentality,  awakens  your  moral  sense,  implants 
upon  you  the  "image  of  God."  Resume  and  embody  here  the 
historic  task  of  your  people,  as  the  mental  educator  of  the 
world's  civilized  nations.  Wherever  your  ancestors  came  they 
did  not  adopt  the  lower  civilization  of  the  natives,  but  intro- 
duced there  their  own  higher  culture.  They  introduced  higher 
standards  of  education,  culture,  morality,  refinement.  So  they 
did  when  coming  un^o  the  Roman  world,  N.  Africa,  Spain,  West- 
ern and  Eastern  Europe.  You  must  do  the  same  in  America.  Your 
immigrating  parents  could  not  as  yet  attend  to  that  part'  of 
Israel's  mission,  entirely  engrossed  as  they  were  by  the  cares 
for  the  mere  subsistence.     That  part  done,  it  is  incumbent 


(Sandhedrin  19  B.)  D^Ot^'  X-nOD 


212  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

upon  you  to  attend,  first,  to  your  own  higher  education  and 
thus  qualify  yourselves  as  mankind's  teachers,  as  the  descend- 
ants of  the  "kingdom  of  priests,"  as  educators.  "To  learn  and 
teach"  is  probably  the  highest  duty  of  the  patriarchal  people.^ 
Cherish  and  cultivate  therefore,  knowledge,  science  and  char- 
acter, the  divinest  sparks  of  human  nature ;  man  actually 
means  mentality,  reason,  knowledge.  Knowledge  is  power,  is 
life,  humane  and  divine,  immortal.  Remember,  yours  is  the 
oldest  civilized  people  of  known  history.^  Your  great  ethical 
Constitution,  the  Decalogue,  claims  an  antiquity  of  three  thou- 
sand and  five  hundred  years :  Israel  is  called  the  nation  of  the 
Book.  At  Sinai  was  held  up  to  him  the  great  ideal  of  a  "king- 
dom of  priests,  viz :  of  learners  and  teachers.  To  be  a  Jew 
and  be  ignorant,  is  a  contradiction,  is  incompatible.  Your 
vaunted  Jewish  descent,  traits,  blood  are  of  small  avail,  of  little 
account,  if  not  ripened  and  developed  into  and  combined  with 
cultured  heads,  hearts  and  hands.  Show,  Amercan  youths,  that 
you  have  not  degenerated  from  your  stock,  that  the  silks  and 
dollars  and  sweets  of  this  land  have  not  spoiled  you.  You  can 
not  afford  to  say :  "Father  has  made  money  and  we  shall 
enjoy  it;  father  has  worked  and  we  shall  rest  upon  his  laurels." 
Dear  friends,  fine  clothes,  diamonds  and  dainties  should  not 
satisfy  patriarch-begotten  youths  and  maidens.  No,  you  must 
improve  upon  your  parental  program.  You  must  continue 
where  your  fathers  have  stopped ;  you  will  resume  and  continue 
what  they  have  commenced.  They  have  done  their  share  of 
the  work.  The  poor  immigrants  have  honestly  built  up  for 
you  a  country,  a  home,  a  livelihood ;  you  shall  continue  the 
noble  work.  Utilize  your  leisures,  your  means,  your  schools, 
your  golden  opportunities.  Cultivate  your  brains,  your  minds 
and  your  hands.  Acquire  a  solid  education.  Be  not  satisfied 
with  a  bread  and  butter  one.  Be  no  paper-doctor,  strive  for 
expanding  your  mind's  and  body's  horizon.  Ever  aim  at  the 
highest  you  can  and  attain  it,  in  science,  art,  industries,  litera- 
ture, state  and  society.  And  be  not  satisfied  with  the  usual 
standards.  The  American  generally  aims  at  wealth  and  his 
education  is  the  fit  tool  for  that.     Israel  is  the  priest-people, 


■ynb  Dir^jn  .id^^i  tidS^  .obn  -ijj3  min  -ii»Sn 

211  M.,  IV,  22.    Beni  bechori. 


REVERENCE  TO  GOD  AND  VIRTUE.  213 

the  book-people,  he  aims  at  knowledge  and  duty  per  se,  at  the 
expansion  of  the  human  capacities  and  possibilities.  There- 
fore let  your  aspirations  strike  higher.  Therefore  set  in  this 
mercantile  country  a  nobler  example,  improve  the  higher  edu- 
cation, that  of  the  heart  and  the  intellect,  the  humanitas.  Imi- 
tate not  poor  patterns,  but  set  the  better  example.  Try  to  aim 
and  to  reach  the  farthest.  Your  otherwise  pre-occupied  fellow- 
citizens  expect  of  you  that  much  needed  example.  Small  spir- 
its may  feel  jealous  and  apprehensive.  But  the  pattern  Amer- 
ican, the  genius  of  Franklin  and  Garfield,  of  Emerson  and  The- 
odore Parker  will  applaud  and  cheer  you.  Let  the  bulk  of 
our  honest  masses  go  to  agriculture,  common  trades  and  indus- 
tries ;  whilst  the  master-minds  shall  devote  their  energies  to  the 
higher  walks  of  humane  activity.  Let  us  soon  have  our 
American  Muncks  and  Zunzes,  Geigers  and  Graetzes,  Rappo- 
ports  and  Francks,  our  American  Boernes,  Simons,  Laskers,  our 
American  Gabirols  and  both  the  Mendelssohns,  the  Heines  and 
Halevy's,  our  American  Cremieux  and  Disraelis.  The  Irish- 
Americans  are  smart,  the  Scotch-Yankees  are  shrewd,  the 
Southerners  are  stately.  Let  the  Hebrew  mind,  mind  its  his- 
torical calling,  as  the  priestly  kingdom,  the  higher  education  of 
the  human  race. 

REVERENCE  TO  GOD  AND  VIRTUE. 

We  have  now  arrived,  attentive  Readers,  at  the  highest  Rev- 
erence, the  root  and  the  top  of  all  piety,  whence  love  to  parents, 
to  country,  to  nationality  and  to  science  flow  and  take  their  in- 
spirations. The  highest  Reverence  we  owe  is  to  God  and  virtue. 
God  is  the  root,  virtue  the  fruit;  God  is  the  motive,  virtue  the 
result.  God  and  virtue  ever  go  together  and  vanish  simul- 
taneously. Without  the  God-root,  virtue  is  a  mere,  evanescent, 
shadowy  flower.  Let  the  grand  and  solemn  reminiscences  of 
Exodus,  Sinai  and  Horeb,  Revelation  and  Decalogue,  Israel's  his- 
tory and  ancestral  achievements  deeply  impress  you,  and  gain 
for  you  the  profound  and  ineffaceable  persuasion  that  the  fashiona- 
ble nihilism  and  the  flat  sensualism  of  our  times  are  sophisms  and 
fallacies.  Carry  home  from  this  study  the  conviction  that  there 
is  a  living  Providence,  a  universal  Moral  Order  that  has  im- 
planted into  our  nature  and  that  expressly  dictates  honesty  and 


214  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

truth  as  man's  rule  of  conduct;  that  rewards  virtue  and  avenges 
innocence ;  that  goodness  carries  its  own  satisfaction  and  furnishes 
us  with  the  best  arms  and  the  courage  for  hfe's  arduous  battle, 
viz:  a  serene  conscience,  the  dignity  of  duty  fulfilled,  and  the 
best  claims  to  our  rights;  with  nothing  to  fear,  to  hide  or  to 
blush  for.  Living  up  to  the  axiom  of:  "Honesty  is  the  best 
policy;"  we  gain  the  consciousness  of  having  walked  in  the 
straight  line  which  is  ever  the  shortest  and  the  safest  in  the  long 
run. 

Further  on,  continuing  our  study  on  our  theme,  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments and  their  bearings,  we  shall  see  the  above  fully  con- 
firmed :  That  crime  and  vice  are  slippery  and  allow  no  safe  standing 
room ;  they  shine  luridly,  like  rotten  wood  in  the  darkness,  insinu- 
ating themselves  like  siren's  song.  Beware  of  temptation  !  It  begins 
as  a  delicate  silk  thread,  grows  soon  into  cable  thickness,  and 
finishes  in  digrace  and  ruin.  Young  Americans,  when  in  presence 
of  temptation,  remember  this  study  of  the  Decalogue  on  Rev- 
erence. Think  of  the  gray  haired  father,  of  the  venerable  wrinkles 
of  the  mother,  of  the  disgrace  to  your  people,  race  and  escutcheon, 
of  the  blush  and  tears  of  those  who  love  you.  Think,  reconsider, 
stop,  avoid  the  first  wrong  step.  The  first  is  the  easiest  to  avoid ; 
soon  it  may  be  too  late !  Friends,  remember :  Will  you  prosper 
and  abide  in  America,  the  country  God  gave  you?  Then  cling 
to  virtue  as  to  the  firmest  foundation  to  stand  upon;  cling  to 
the  belief  in  God,  in  Israel's  mission,  in  truth  and  in  liberty,  in  an 
improving  humanity.  Insist  on  your  rights,  do  fully  your  duty 
and  fear  nobody ! 

THE  SEVERAL  REVERENCES. 

Let  us  conclude.  What  does  the  fifth  Commandment  con- 
templated, recommend  in  regard  to  the  future  of  Israel  in  America? 
It  recommends  manifold  Reverences.  Reverence  for  the  past 
and  for  the  future.  Be  no  mummy;  vegetate  not  in  and  be  not 
absorbed  by  the  past,  but  utilize  the  past,  in  your  preparation  for 
the  future.  Let  the  ashes  of  the  fathers  be  the  blessed  seed  of  the 
children.  Remember  Mosis'  two  arks,  one  with  the  ashes  of 
Joseph  and  the  other  with  the  law  of  the  Ever  Living.  Let  the 
present  be  the  bridge  connecting  both.  Never  break  ofif  and 
never  stop  the  process  of  human  amelioration.     Let  improve- 


THE  SEVERAL  REVERENCES.  215 

ment  ever  go  on,  let  the  past  ever  develop,  but  the  future  must 
be  its  offshoot,  no  break!  Ever  hold  fast  to  tried  principles  in 
their  new  applications.  Never  apostatize,  allow  neither  stagnation 
nor  revolution,  but  ever  go  by  evolution.  As  the  tree  begins  with 
the  seed,  proceeds  to  the  root,  developes  in  the  stem,  the  tree, 
the  branches,  the  twigs,  the  blossoms,  the  leaves  and  the  fruit, 
ever  renovating,  regenerating  and  producing  fresh,  young  sprouts, 
but  all  of  the  exactly  identical  principle,  the  original  seed — even 
so,  American  Israel,  with  all  your  renovations  and  moderniza- 
tions, adaptations  and  reforms,  look  to  it  that  the  original  seed 
and  sap  be  not  corrupted  and  exchanged  for  a  shallow  indiffer- 
entism.  Do  not  sell  your  noble  birth-right  for  a  pot  of  lintels. 
Ever  see  that  the  essence, — I  say  the  essence — of  the  "kingom  of 
priests"  the  mentality  and  morality  of  the  Patriarchal  seed,  and 
the  Sinaic  Decalogue  be  and  remain  identical  and  intact.  And 
the  five-fold  reverences  above  enumerated  point  to  that  essence. 
Do  practice  those  many  Reverences.  Behold,  this  is  a  young 
country,  is  little  over  a  century  old.  All  the  higher  virtues  could 
not  yet  be  cultivated  here.  As  the  American  has  pulled  down 
many  idols  of  the  old  world,  in  State,  Church  and  Society,  King, 
noble  and  priest,  guild,  classes  and  masses,  he  became  somewhat 
impressed  with  the  vague  feeling  that  all  the  ancient  world's 
reverences  are  but  idolatries.  History,  poetry,  virtue,  study, 
ideality,  character,  nam.e  and  veneration — all  faded  and  paled  by  his 
realism.  The  state,  the  church,  the  parental  relation,  the  marital 
tie,  friendship,  patriotism,  science,  glory,  even  philanthropy,  all 
became  secularized,  vulgarized,  divested  of  their  halo,  examined 
with  the  microscope  of  their  practical  utility,  of  business  interest. 
Studying  the  noble  facts,  ideas  and  tenets  of  the  Decalogue  and 
the  Exodus,  venerated  by  mankind  as  the  dawn  of  our  Western 
civilization,  I  wish  to  call  your  attention  to  the  importance  of 
the  etherial  ideal  principle  of  Reverence,  in  danger  of  being 
eliminated  from  American  psychology.  Friends !  Hold  fast  to 
that  principle,  often  abused,  but  essential  to  all  true  nobility  and 
grandeur.  The  V.  Commandment  recommends  to  you  the  fol- 
lowing Reverences  as  important  for  your  theoretical  and  practical 
success,  as  a  necklace  of  continuous  venerations,  viz :  Reverence 
for  yoia-  Parents,  for  your  American  Country,  for  your  people, 
for  your  religion,  and  for  higher  education,  all  growing  from 
the  same  root :  reverence  to  God  and  to  Duty !  Let  these  five  fold 


2i6  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

Reverences,  combining  the  past  and  the  future,  be  well  remem- 
bered and  practiced  by  the  young  generation.  Then,  without  fail, 
America  will  be  your  prosperous  home  with  your  full  civic  and 
political  rights,  your  social  equality  and  your  humanitarian  mis- 
sion. Any  remnant  of  mediaeval  prejudice  will  yield  to  merit 
and  character.  At  that  noble  price  you  can  afford  to  stay  a 
minority.    The  divine  spirit  breathes  in  such  a  minority.^ 


iFirst  addressed  to  a  youthful  audience,  about  40  years  ago,  as  also 
the  following: 


217 

VII  Study. 


DECALOGUE,  JUDAISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY. 

In  the  preceding  pages  we  have  seen  that  the  Decalogue  is 
the  embryo  or  the  nucleus,  the  epitome  or  the  central-doctrine  of 
the  Mosaic  legislation — according  to  the  assumed  standpoint  of  the 
reader.  It  is  the  leading  chapter  therefore  of  the  entire  Sacred 
Writ.  It  is  even  of  a  vaster  import.  It  is  the  Corner-stone  of 
human  civilization  past  and  future.  It  is  a  category  of  human 
nature.  It  will  never  be  obsolete,  disestablished  and  will  ever  be 
the  sole  and  unique  basis  upon  which  all  the  races  unite,  for  the 
Qor?n  too,  as  also  Egyp  ology^  contain  versions  of  these  leading 
features  of  civilization  in  which  all  mankird  can  reconcile  and 
unite  in  one  bond  of  brotherhood.  It  stands  upon  the  fatherhood 
of  the  One  ood  of  the  universe  and  its  necessary  corolary,  the 
brotherhood  of  all  men.  And  the  promulg?  ion  of  the  Com- 
rrirdmerts,  their  uni\eiocl  d'^^eminption,  is  Is  -ael's  great  raison 
d'etre,  his  acli-\  !cy  in  the  pas  preseri:  and  fuLur?  of  his  i.'destruc- 
tibility,  his  eternity.  After  having  analyzed  the  Decalogue  in  ihe 
abstract,  solely  as  a  doctrine,  we  shall  novv  tieal  of  it  as  con- 
crete, as  vested  and  incarnpted  in  a  people,  as  the  plrtiiim  of 
Judaism.  We  shall  see  now  th?t  Israel  is  bat.Hng  for  it,  for  i:  he 
continues  in  the  minority,  in  its  interest  he  deems  't  his  duty  not 
to  enter  into  and  fuse  with  the  majority.  By  that  the  thoughtful 
reader  will  gain  the  conviction  that  he  fights  not  for  privilege,  for 
national  ascendency,  for  political  dominion,  nor  ^or  any  personal 
private  advantage,  but  for  the  great  aspirations  of  mankind,  for 
the  only  platform  upon  which  all  the  races  and  countries  can 
stand  and  unite  under  the  aegis  of  one  God,  one  law,  one  right, 
one  duty  and  one  interest  for  all.  This  promulgation  of  the  Ten 
Commandments  is  his  providential  mission,  is  the  great  cause  and 
the  necessity  for  a  priestly  people,  its  representatives.  That  same 
mission  is  and  was  the  shield,  the  arms  defensive  and  offensive 
of  that  puny  Hebrew  race,  waging  a  world-war  for  3,000  years, 
a  phenomenon  so  abnormal  and  yet  so  necessary  for  mankind's 
advance.     When  that  Decalogue  will  become   an  accomplished 


iSee  on  that  Mohammed  and  Qoran,  in  my:    Humanity,  etc.,  of  Pen- 
tateuch, Egyptology. 


2i8  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

fact,  when  it  will  be  accepted  in  its  entirety  without  quibbling  and 
sophistry,  when  it  will  become  both  the  doctrine  and  the  rule  of 
conduct  of  the  mass  of  the  people,  not  only  of  the  scholar  and 
the  thnking  classes,  when  it  will  become  the  daily,  practical, 
norm  of  life,  not  an  abstract  theory  for  the  elite,  then  there  will 
be  no  need  of  division,  for  Israel  and  for  a  Gentile  world.  They 
will  then  both  emerge  into  the  one  Humanity,  under  the  Provi- 
dence of  the  One  God.  I  say :  The  Decalogue  as  the  rule  of 
conduct  only  of  the  elite,  viz :  the  elite  of  Israel,  and  gradually 
of  the  elite  of  the  civilized  races.  The  masses  of  both  have  heard 
of  it,  but  not  taken  it  to  heart;  it  is  not  yet  their  norm  of  prac- 
tical life.  The  bulk  of  Israel  differs  only  thus  far  from  the 
Gentile  masses  that  it  has  accepted  it,  formally  and  externally, 
since  the  Sinai  epoch,  and  is  thus  its  historical  banner  bearer. 
Hence  the  ethical  necessity  of  Israel's  continuation.  As  the 
prophets  of  old,  so  the  Israelitish  Elite  only  represent  that  doc- 
trine in  truth  and  in  deed,  and  these  prophetic  select  ones  will 
gain  over  the  masses,  Jewish  and  Gentile.  We  shall  later  on, 
further  elucidate  it. 

DECALOGUE,  ITS  HARMONY  AND  UNIVERSALITY. 

We  said :  The  Decalogue  is  the  Central-doctrine  of  the  Mosaic 
Legislation,  the  base  of  human  civilization,  the  leading  feature  of 
the  entire  Sacred  Scriptures.  Indeed,  closely  examining  it,  we 
find  there  the  epitome  of  all  man's  duties,  towards  God,  towards 
himself  and  towards  his  family,  people,  country  and  fellow  men, 
all.  Follow  it  up  and  you  will  have  a  good  and  happy  individual, 
citizen,  people.  State,  church.  At  the  very  opening  it  lays  the 
only  possible  foundation  for  a  human  Commonwealth  and  its 
effective  legislation.  It  begins  with  the  solemn  affirmation  of  the 
existence  of  God,  the  Principle,  the  Supreme  Authority  in  whose 
name  the  State  is  established  and  the  Code  is  promulgated.  God 
is  the  author  of  its  freedom,  its  nationality  and  its  organic  Law. 
He  watches  over  its  wellbeing,  the  reward  of  the  fullfilment  of 
his  will.  This  God,  the  Decalogue  teaches,  is  only  one,  no  other 
independent  powers  or  gods  besides  him.  And  this  is  not  mere 
theory,  not  priestly  jealousy.  This  Divine  Unity  has  its  practical 
significance.  It  means  the  unity  of  the  Creative  Power,  the 
harmonious  working  of  his  will  in  the  parts,  the  universality  of  the 


DECALOGUE,  ITS  HARMONY  AND  UNIVERSALITY.      219 

Law.  It  means  the  world  made  for  the  peace,  the  happiness  and 
the  perfection  of  its  creatures.  It  excludes  the  possibility  of  hell, 
Devil  and  original  sin,  of  eternal  punishments,  of  racial  dis- 
criminations, invidiousness  and  intolerance.  This  God  is  strictly  a 
Unit ;  he  is  one,  not  two,  not  three,  not  many  and  not  the  all.  That 
means  Monotheism,  not  trinity,  not  dualism,  not  polytheism,  not 
pantheism,  and  not  atheism.  All  these  sociologically  considered, 
are  unfit  for  a  humanitarian  State  and  social  compact. 

This  God,  the  Decalogue  further  teaches,  is  spiritual  and 
no  incarnation,  containing  nothing  bodily^  not  accountable  to 
human  senses,  with  no  sensual  attributes,  as  doing,  speaking, 
walking,  standing,  angry  or  pleased,  not  amenable  to  affect  or 
change.  Man  can  mentally  and  ethically  only  understand  and 
feel  him,  not  by  his  five  senses.  The  divine  Essence  is  not 
comprehensible  by  man ;  we  learn  his  existence,  all-power,  etc., 
by  the  testimony  of  the  universe,  by  the  workings  in  nature, 
his  effects.  The  w^orld  proclaims  the  God-existence.  It  is, 
hence  must  He  be.  It  is  well  done,  powerful,  wise,  answering 
its  purpose,  harmonious,  orderly,  law-abiding,  beautiful,  hence 
must  all  these  attributes  be  his  emanations,  as  all  the  rays  issue 
from  the  sun.  And  when  the  Bible  gives  to  God  human  attri- 
butes and  affects,  it  is  only  parable,  simile,  it  "speaks  in  human 
language."  Man  knows,  is  inspired,  bid  by  God — mentally, 
morally,  conscientiously,  never  bodily  or  sensually.  (See  Mai- 
monides  Guide  Part  I).  God  being  the  spiritual  essence,  he 
cannot  adequately  be  represented  by  a  body  or  any  emblem. 
The  less  can  he  have  a  vicar,  a  son,  a  partner,  an  associate.  He 
is  unique,  and  he  alone  is  the  Only  One,  all  else  has  its  equal : 
No  symbolic  idols  !  The  divine  spirit  shall  be  conceived  by  our 
human  spirit  not  grasped  by  our  senses.  We  are  to  conceive, 
him  mentally,  our  eye,  etc.,  can  not  see  him.  It  is  a  fact  that 
whenever  man  began  to  symbolize,  viz. :  represent  the  deity 
by  any  signs  or  emblems,  idolatry  was  the  unfailing  and  fatal 
result.  Man  began  to  worship  God  in  some  image,  soon  he 
worshiped  the  image  as  God — du  sublime  au  ridicule. — At  last 
he  derided  the  image  as  a  fetish  and  disbelieved  in  God,  hypo- 
critically keeping  up  the  semblance  as  a  scarecrow  for  others. 
This  is  the  history  of  all  divine  representations:  Symbolism, 
idolatry,  hypocrisy.  Atheism.  You  will  find  this  verified 
everywhere,  in  Greece  after  Socrates,  in  the  Roman  world  at 


220  EXODUS,   MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

the  epoch  of  Paul,  in  Romanism  shortly  before  the  Reforma- 
tion, and  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  mask  is 
used  no  longer.  The  God  and  Providence  idea  will  always 
command  respect,  symbolism  soon  loses  its  relish.  The  masses 
will  ever  take  the  symbol  for  the  idea,  and  the  idol  for  the 
ideal,  and  idolatry  with  hypocrisy  will  ever  be  the  result  of 
symbolical  religion.  Hence,  "Thou  shalt  make  unto  thee  no 
graven  image !  "Remember  thou  hast  seen  on  Horeb  no  figure 
and  no  likeness."    God  is  One,  pure  Spirit ! 

On  that  solid  base  of  the  Only  One,  spiritual  and  eternal 
God,  the  Decalogue  erects  the  great  structure  of  a  civilized 
society.  It  first  founds  the  institution  of  Sabbath,  a  day  set 
apart  for  the  recreation  and  regeneration  of  the  body  and  for 
the  cultivation  of  the  divine  in  the  human,  for  bringing  into 
closer  touch  the  divine  and  the  human,  a  day  when  man  of 
earth  reaches  out  to  heaven  to  reconquer  his  marred  spiritu- 
ality. By  that  institution  brutalized  conventional  man  be- 
comes again  natural  man,  and  regains  his  liberty,  his  humane 
dignity,  his  birth  right  in  God's  likeness.  Toiling,  unhinged, 
artificial,  wrangling  society  is  ever  coming  nearer  its  ultimate 
future  conditions;  the  ideal,  deeply  imbedded  in  man's  mind 
and  higher  aspirations.  Sabbath  is  the  red  thread  to  that  ideal ; 
by  it  he  becomes  aware  that  he  is  gifted  with  divine  poten- 
tialities, with  intelligence,  morality  and  a  hundred  noble  ca- 
pacities. The  Decalogue  re-created  the  Sabbath-institution  as 
man's  great  Bill  of  Rights,  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
his  rehabilitation  into  his  God-intended  conditions.  Sabbath 
is  the  hanging  bridge  and  connecting  link  between  the  divine 
and  the  human,  earth  and  heaven,  matter  and  spirit,  the  vulgar 
and  the  sublime,  the  angel  and  the  brute  in  our  own  breast. 
Neglecting  that  day,  not  using  it,  or  misusing  it  for  unholy  or 
vulgar  purposes,  giving  it  up  to  business  or  to  frivolous  amuse- 
ments, is  committing  moral  and  intellectual  suicide,  is  killing 
the  angel  in  our  heart  and  leaving  us  to  the  control  of  the 
brute ! 

After  the  Decalogue  had  established  a  divine  Principle  as 
Supreme  Guide,  after  it  has  given  us  the  Sabbath  as  the  means 
of  our  connection  with  that,  and  has  taught  man  self-culture 
and  his  obligations  towards  his  Guide,  it  then  inculcates  his 
duties  to  society,  by  establishing  the  first  link  thereof,  the  fam- 


DECALOGUE,  ITS  HARMONY  AND  UNIVERSALITY.      221 

ily  and  the  relation  of  parent  and  child,  a  reciprocity  of  love 
and  respect,  self-sacrifice  and  obedience :  "Reverence  thy  father 
and  thy  mother."  Honor  and  pay  defernce  to  your  parents,  re- 
spect and  cherish  them.  Look  up  to  them  as  to  God  on  earth. 
They  represent  in  our  youth,  the  Deity  by  many  of  its  attri- 
butes :    age,  wisdom,  providence,  goodness. 

The  Decalogue  then  continues  to  inculcate  the  chief  obliga- 
tions towards  our  next,  to  society  at  large,  by  declaring  sacred 
and  inviolable  the  life,  the  purity,  the  property,  the  veracity 
and  the  upright  dealings  of  man.  It  penetrates  deeper,  prescribing 
the  sacredness  of  even  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  our  inner- 
most soul.  Thus  it  completes  a  code  of  ten  rules,  indispensably 
necessary  to  the  salvation  of  the  individual  and  the  state.  It  is 
an  organic  law,  a  rudimentary  Code  for  the  unit  and  the  state,  an 
outline  of  a  social  compact,  embracing  all  the  elements  of  a  civil- 
ized society,  beginning  with  the  root:  God;  going  on  with  the 
stem:  the  Sabbath  and  the  family;  the  branches,  man's  rights 
and  duties;  the  leaves,  blossoms  and  fruit,  the  meditations, 
sensations  and  deeds.  It  is  a  convenant  with  a  succinct  enum- 
eration of  our  duties  towards  our  God,  towards  ourselves,  to- 
wards our  family  and  society  at  large. 

The  Decalogue  is  therefore  justly  to  be  considered  as  a  legis- 
lation in  embryo.  The  rest  of  the  Pentateuch  is  but  the  devel- 
opment of  the  seed,  the  necessary  complement,  amplification 
and  adaptation  to  the  ever  changing  environments.  The  Pro- 
phets represent  its  backbone,  its  principles,  its  universal  hu- 
manitarian application.  The  historical  Books,  the  hagiographs 
are  the  representation  of  its  struggles,  failures  and  conquests 
within  and  without,  over  paganism  and  barbarism,  since  Sinai 
to  the  epoch  of  the  Maccabeans.  The  Mishna  and  the  Talmud 
are  the  expounding  and  the  adaptations  to  later  ages  and 
changed  surroundings,  and  history  since  that  time,  is  but  the 
continuation  of  that  struggle,  its  partial  triumphs  and  partial 
failures  in  the  Occident  and  the  Orient,  Christianity  and  Mo- 
hammedanism. It  is  therefore  historically  and  critically  cor- 
rect to  say  that  the  Ten  Words  are  the  central  doctrine  of  the 
Mosaic  Legislation  and  the  leading  enactment  of  the  entire 
Sacred  Scriptures. 

But  it  is  critically  correct  to  affirm  furthermore  that  they 
are  the  foundation  and  basis  of  all  human  civilization,  for  I 


222  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

ask,  can  any  one  imagine  a  society  to  thrive  without  the  recog- 
nition of  a  Supreme  Authority  of  Law,  without  consecrating 
higher  humanity,  family,  life,  chastity,  property,  truth,  and 
moral  self-restraint,  one's  own  desires  ?  Without  the  acknowl- 
edgment of  the  principles  expressed  in  that  Charter?  Can  we 
base  a  state  on  atheism?  Without  spiritual  culture?  Without 
filial  piety?  Without  the  consecration  of  work,  honor,  owner- 
ship, veracity,  self-restraint?  Evidently  no  political  body 
could  subsist  and  thrive  without.  You  might  as  well  build 
a  house  without  a  firm  ground,  base,  walls  or  roof !  A  state  not 
recognizing  the  Ten  Words  will  be  a  state  of  anarchy  and 
club-law,  will  be  a  society  of  wolves  and  bears.  A  civilization 
without  the  Decalogue  is  a  knife  without  a  blade  whose  handle 
is  missing. 

It  is  therefore  again  critically  correct  to  affirm  that  this  He- 
braic Organic  State  Law  is  unsectarian,  is  broadly  humani- 
tarian, is  the  corner-stone  of  human  civilization,  is  the  sole 
and  unique  basis  upon  which  humanity  can  stand,  thrive  and 
unite  on  terms  of  right,  freedom,  universality  and  sympathy. 
The  Hebraic  Decalogue  is  the  Great  Charter  of  man.  Its  chief 
merit  and  sublimity  consists  in  its  universality,  constituting 
Prophetic  Judaism  as  the  ultimate  faith  of  mankind. 

THE  BANNER-BEARER  AND  THE  ORIFLAMME. 

Indeed  the  guardianship  and  propagation  of  these  Ten  Prin- 
ciples has  been  entrusted  to  Israel,  the  descendants  of  the 
people  of  the  Exodus  and  of  Sinai.  To  them  has  been  handed 
over  the  palladium  of  humanity,  to  them  the  sacred  fire  which 
was  with  Moses  enkindled  on  the  bush  of  Horeb,  at  whose  flame 
was  successfully  lit,  age  after  age,  the  refulgent  torch  of  human 
civilization.  That  Oriflamme,  burning  upon  the  central  Arabian 
Peninsula,  spread  its  beneficent  blaze  through  Israel,  over  Asia 
and  Africa,  Europe  and  this  new  Western  world ;  that  light 
which  now  glows,  warms  and  cheers  the  hearts  of  the  Orient 
and  Occident,  of  all  the  Gentile  races,  will  gradually  invade 
and  gain  over  the  extreme  lands  of  Mongolia,  China  and  Ja- 
pan; that  light  of  Horeb,  like  the  flashing  thunderbolt  of  na- 
ture, has  illumined,  struck  and  overturned  the  entire  fabric 
of  the  old  world.    It  has  scattered  the  phantoms  of  the  Greek 


THE  BANNER-BEARER  AND  THE  ORIFLAMME.  225 

Olympus,  shattered  to  pieces  the  Roman  sword  on  the  ruins  of 
its  collapsed  capitol,  subdued  the  fierceness  of  the  Teutonic  in- 
vasion and  made  them  the  era  of  a  new  Western  culture ;  that 
light  has  purified  and  prepared  the  globe's  atmosphere  for  the 
reception  of  the  Sinaic  platform,  of  "Love  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself,"  repeated  over  again  and  again  since  that  epoch,  by 
the  founders  of  Christianity,  of  Mohammedanism  and  later  of 
Buddhism.  That  platform  and  its  great  parole  of  the  Golden  Rule, 
has  since  been  adopted  by  the  leaders  of  the  American  and  the 
French  Revolutions,  it  is  the  great  aspiration  of  present  philan- 
thropists and  humanitarian  thinkers.  That  holy  fire  of  truth, 
fraternity  and  justice  has  been  kept  up  and  entertained  by  the 
people  of  Israel,  for  these  three  thousand  five  hundred  years, 
over  the  entire  habitable  globe.  Gentile  world,  consider !  That 
was  a  tremendous  work,  an  awful  and  dangerous  undertaking; 
to  oppose  alone  all  the  ancient  peoples  combined  and  take  up 
the  gauntlet  for  initiating  the  new  polity  of  One  God  and  one 
right  for  all !  To  claim  to  be  better,  to  teach  and  act  on  the 
principle :  that  not  selfishness,  pleasure  and  over-reaching,  but 
justice,  truth  and  altruism  prevail;  "that  not  armies  and  not 
force,  but  divine  right  conquers !  (Sachariah,  4.6)."  Who  can 
handle  fire  without  burning  his  fingers?  Who  can  barely  catch 
the  lightning  without  being  struck?  Even  so  Israel.  He  has 
well  burnt  his  fingers,  has  terribly  scorched  his  face.  "Do  not 
wonder  that  I  look  so  swarthy,  uncouth  and  awkward."  (Song 
of  Songs,  1.5).  He  is  still  shaking  with  that  terrible  shock. 
Every  Jewish  face,  every  Jewish  breast  bears  the  deep  marks 
and  scars  of  that  gigantic  millennial  struggle.  Consider  the 
magnitude  of  the  undertaking.  Prometheus  arrayed  against 
Olympos!  Consider:  Ancient  society  had  a  thousand  gods,  a 
thousand  clans  with  a  thousand  claims  and  conflicts :  The 
Decalogue  has  One  God,  one  right  and  peace.  The  ancient 
society  had  kings,  warriors,  barons  and  slaves :  The  Decalogue 
teaches  God,  a  free  people,  work  and  duty.  The  ancient  so- 
ciety had  a  country  with  masters  and  glebe  men :  The  Deca- 
logue has  an  inalienable  acre  for  each  man.  Ancient  society 
had  a  slave-woman  and  slave-children :  The  Decalogue,  free 
women,  monogamy  and  free  children;  a  free  state  with  free 
and  equal  citizens,  no  Helots  and  no  Pariahs.  The  ancient 
society  had  cunning  priests,  with  profusion  of  temples,  sacri- 


224  EXODUS,   MOSES  AND   THE  DECALOGUE. 

fices  and  observances,  superstitions,  horrifying  offerings  and 
priestcraft !  The  Decalogue  insists  on  law,  reverence,  schools, 
filial  piety,  righteousness,  purity  and  truth  telling.  The  ancient 
-society  had  selfishness,  warfares,  conquests  and  ambitions : 
The  Decalogue,  right,  sympathy,  arbitration  and  peace ;  war 
only  in  defense,  not  offense.  Now  it  was  puny  Israel's  huge 
task  to  bring  over  the  ancient  world  to  the  ways  of  the  Sinaic 
doctrine.  Was  that  not  a  tremendous  task?  Is  It  a  wonder 
when  so  much  antagonism,  misconstruction,  invidiousness 
were  engendered?  Your  own  Jesus,  O  Gentiles,  antagoniz- 
ing priests  and  hypocrites,  Herodians  and  Caesars,  was 
nailed  to  the  cross.  Is  it  a  wonder  when  Juda,  opposing 
all  the  world's  political  and  ecclesiastical  tyrants,  had  to  bear 
His  cross?  The  entire  Hebraic  history  is  the  record  of 
that  millennial,  bitter  struggle  and  martyrdom.  In  order  to 
teach  to  the  world  the  Abrahamic  or  Mosaic  polity,  he  had  to 
renounce  most  of  the  amenities  of  life  in  civilized  society.  In 
order  to  teach  the  polytheists  justice,  reason,  sympathy,  he  had 
to  submit  to  be  denied  the  common  rights  of  man.  The  marks 
and  scars  on  his  front  and  breast,  the  noble,  bloody,  badges  of 
honor  won  on  a  thousand  battlefields  fought  for  human  rights, 
those  marks  and  scars  the  mob  decried  as  the  Kain's  signs  of 
deicide!  O  the  unthinking  masses!  falling  prostrate  in  wor- 
ship at  the  feet  of  a  Jewish  martyr,  so  far  as  to  declare  him 
God,  they  overlooked  the  whole  nation  of  martyrs  and  acted 
towards  them  as  if  there  were  no  God  and  no  human  rifht,  no 
reason,  no  common  sense  and  no  truth.  Despoiling  an  entire 
nation  for  the  benefit  of  one  member  thereof,  they  declared 
Israel,  the  Sar-El,  the  patriarchal  blue-bloody  the  Teacher,  the 
Messiah  of  mankind — they  declared  him  the  pariah  of  man- 
kind !  And  the  silk  or  cotton  mob  dared  place  their  foot  on 
the  neck  of  their  Teacher  and  spiritual  savior.  For  long  dark 
centuries  he  was  denied  a  country  and  a  sheltering  roof,  a 
piece  of  honest  bread,  protection  to  the  cradle  of  his  babe,  the 
air  and  the  light  of  the  sky.  Do  you  remember  the  53d  chap- 
ter of  Isaiah,  that  chapter  which  Christians  refer  to  their  mes- 
siah  of  Nazareth?  Read  that  chapter  carefully  and  you  will 
find,  it  refers,  not  to  one  particular  Jew,  but  to  the  Jewish  peo- 
ple, the  providential,  historical  redeemer  of  mankind,  he  who 
has  redeemed  the  world  from  paganism,  superstition,  sensual- 
ity and   ignorance,   from  the  slavery  of  king,  priest  and   idol. 


THE  BANNER-BEARER  AND  THE  ORIFLAMME.         225 

That  chapter  53,  sketches  in  touching  strokes,  the  glorious, 
painful  and  sad  career  of  the  Hebraic  people,  during  millen- 
niums, over  the  entire  globe.  It  narrates  how  that  ethnos  suf- 
fered in  order  to  improve  mankind;  all  fellows  and  brethren,, 
children  of  the  one  heavenly  father,  who  asks  of  them  no  other 
service  and  worship  but  to  love  and  tolerate  each  other,  be 
just  and  merciful  towards  one  another,  live  and  let  live  and 
act  up  to  the  policy  of:  Honesty  is  the  best  policy. 

Until  recent  times  Israel  did  not  regret  his  heavy  historical 
charge :  He  meekly  performed  his  work  at  any  cost.  Indeed  to 
suffer  for  a  great  cause  never  lowers,  and  rather  aggrandizes  an 
individual  or  a  people.  Ethically  he  has  greatly  and  solidly  gained 
by  these  struggles.  It  is  no  small  honor  to  be  an  Israelite  indeed. 
He  has  been  slandered  and  calumniated  since  Pharaoh  to  Pobe- 
denostzeff.  Yet  gems  shine  forth  even  when  trod  in  the  dust 
under  foot,  and  precious  stones  need  no  gold  setting  to  show  forth 
their  brilliant  lustre.  Judah  is  scattered  all  over  the  world, — as 
a  seed  to  bear  rich  harvests  for  mankind.  He  lives  in  Peking, 
London  and  California,  in  Malacca  and  in  Archangel,  in  Siberia, 
Naples  and  Florida,  everywhere  as  the  teacher  of  the  Decalogue. 
Everywhere  that  has  been  his  great  spiritual  merchandise,  at  all 
times  he  was  handing  it  around,  peddling  it  along  on  his  eternal 
migrations.  Everywhere  the  Ten-Words  were  the  contents  of 
his  practical  life  and  his  theoretical  teachings.  They  were  his 
arms  defensive  and  offensive.  Everywhere  he  was  called  upon 
to  answer  the  invidious  question:  Jew,  what  do  you  stand  by 
and  for  ?  Jew,  what  is  your  business  ?  Why  don't  you  fuse  with 
the  majority?  Why  do  you  continue  isolated,  an  exception?" 
And  his  answer  ever  has  been :  "We  Jews  stand  by  the  Decalogue. 
We  stand  for  human  civilization.  Our  business  is — to  propound 
and  examplify  justice  to  every  man.  Our  task  is  to  teach  and 
practice  the  doctrine:  I  am  the  Eternal  thy  God.  Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.  Abraham  and  Moses  taught  that 
first,  and  since  Buddha,  Jesus  and  Mohammed  have  learned  and 
taught  it.  But  as  yet  it  is  a  mere  ideal,  a  theory.  You  Gentiles 
claim  to  have  learned  it,  but  you  still  misunderstand,  misconstrue 
and  misapply  it.  And  as  long  as  this  is  so,  in  theory  and  in 
practice,  my  task  continues  as  a  Jew.  I  can  not  put  aside  my 
gloomy  armor,  my  crown  of  thorns,  and  my  martyr's  scepter.  I 
must  still  stand  isolated,  though  in  your  midst,  and  continue  to 


226 

ISRAEL'S  FUTURE. 

teach,  until  you  have  learned  to  live  and  practice  on  the  principle 
of  the  fatherhood  of  the  One  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  the 
one  mankind. 

As  to  the  future,  as  long  as  Israel  will  continue  to  teach  and 
practice  the  Ten-Words,  he  will  be  invincible,  he  will  live  and 
ethically  thrive.  But  the  moment  he  flinches  and  yields  the 
Decalogue  to  worldly  temptations,  the  moment  he  follows  the  bad 
example,  materialism  and  selfishness,  instead  of  setting  a  good 
one  of  spiritually  and  altruism,  that  moment  his  right-to-be 
will  be  forfeited. — Israel  is  an  insignificant  minority;  historically 
and  providentially  he  is  instituted  the  teacher  of  the  majority.  As 
such  he  must  be  ethically  better.  And  as  soon  as  the  minority  is 
not  better,  it  has  lost  its  own  import,  and  being  numerically  by 
far  inferior,  it  inevitably  sinks  below  the  greater  number.  The 
minority  is  and  must  be  superior  to  the  majority,  to  make  up  by 
quality  for  the  lack  of  quantity.  It  must  be  above  it  in  force 
viz.,  mentally  and  morally.  Then  it  is  a  leader  and  the  impulsive 
divine  spirit  moves  in  it.  The  moment  it  is  no  longer  such  a 
force,  it  has  abdicated.  Its  historical  mission  and  its  right-to-be, 
both,  are  at  an  end.  The  religious  ceremonies  alone  will  not  help. 
The  host  of  forms  without  a  spark  of  spirit  will  not  help.  The 
galvanic  batteries  of  the  Qabbala  carry  no  fire.  Remember  this 
and  meditate  on  it,  you,  all  whom  it  may  concern,  Brethren. 
Only  a  minority  intellectually  and  morally  superior,  can  claim  to 
be  the  Sinaic  "People  of  priests  and  the  holy  nation,"  acting  as 
"a  light  to  the  nations."  That  determines  Israel's  future.  A 
scholar  recently  gave  out  as  his  opinion  that  the  Jew  has  taught 
all  he  ever  knew  over  and  above  the  Gentiles,  that  these  have 
learned  all  he  had  to  teach,  that  his  task  is  now  over,  except  to 
return  to  Palestine.  I  can  not  agree  that  Israel's  task  is  ended .  . . 
The  Gentiles  have  not  learned  all.  Only  the  Gentile  elite  has. 
The  masses  have  neither  learned  nor  do  they  practice.  Old 
paganism  is  dead,  but  the  new  paganism  lives.  Its  forms  are  dead, 
its  evil  spirit  lives.  Even  the  Jewish  masses  in  the  Ghetto  have 
decayed.  The  elite  alone,  the  modern  prophets  have  learned  and 
do  practice.  Hence  is  Israel's  mission  far  from  finished,  because 
it  is  far  from  being  accomplished.  The  masses,  Jewish  and  Gen- 
tile, need  still  the  official,  historical  Israel,  the  Sinaic  people  of 


JUDAISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY.  227 

priests,  the  select,  scattered  prophetic  band,  to  continue  and  incul- 
cate the  hoary  yet  ever  new  doctrine,  in  theory  and  practice.  As 
ancient  Israel  and  Judah,  in  spite  of  their  own  personal  idolatry, 
clustered  around  the  prophetic  school  and,  by  their  bulk,  helped 
that  nucleus  to  make  monotheism  dominant  in  Judaea,  Samaria 
and  the  Roman  world,  even  so,  is  Israel  of  the  dispersion  indis- 
pensibly  necessary,  by  its  inherited,  latent,  potential  instincts,  to 
assist  the  elite  in  and  out  of  Israel,  to  counteract  the  reigning 
materialism  and  to  make  the  Decalogue  man's  rule  of  conduct, 
in  fact  and  in  deed. 

JUDAISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY. 

Not  wishing  any  longer  to  pry  behind  the  curtains  of  Provi- 
dence, let  us  return  to  our  study  and  emphasize  our  theme 
proper :  The  leading  and  salient  distinction  between  Sinaic  Juda- 
ism and  trinitarian,  official  Christianity.  This  real  and  great 
point  at  issue  between  the  monotheistc  Jew  and  the  trinitarian 
Christian  is  our  very  text :  ''1  am  the  Eternal,  thy  God,  thou  shalt 
have  no  other  Gods  besides  me."  It  is  God-One  and  God-three 
or  triune;  God  pure  spirit  and  God  incarnate.  Here  the  Jew 
cannot  yield,  here  he  will  and  shall  never  yield,  never !  Even 
baptism  can  not  change  it.  Mark  well?  Boerne,  Bartholdi, 
Heine,  Disraeli  remained  monotheists  to  their  end.  And  this 
issue  is  of  no  small  import;  it  is  not  purely  theoretical;  it  is  not 
an  abstract  issue  merely,  theological  or  metapsysical.  No,  it  is 
fraught  with  the  most  realistic  consequences.  It  involves  the 
practical  problems  of  man,  life  and  world;  concerning  duty  and 
right,  freedom  and  slavery,  virtue  and  vice.  On  this  peg  Official 
Christianity  has  long  hung  its  pile  of  dogmas  and  tenets,  theories 
and  practices:  Salvation  by  grace  and  the  blood  on  the  Cross; 
creed  and  not  deed;  eternal  hell  for  all  outside  of  the  church: 
papal  infallibility  and  royal  supremacy,  divine  right  of  kings; 
government  by  born  rulers;  eternal  tutelage  of  the  people;  sub- 
jection of  reason  to  blind  faith  and  authority;  proscription  of 
all  progress  all  amelioration  and  intellectual  education;  holding 
all  in  the  thumbscrews  of  the  status-quo-ante,  and  searching  one's 
ideals  in  the  far  past,  not  in  the  gradually  advancing  future. 
Let  me  emphasize  that,  just  for  these  interests,  proscribed  by  offi- 
cial dogma  and  Creed,  the  Mosaist  is  struggling;  he  is  not  in 
the  least  fighting  for  a  national  and  local  God,  but  for  the  God 


228  EXODUS,   MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

of  the  universe;  not  for  ancient  Judaea,  but  for  the  salvation  of 
the  entire  globe.  He  bears  a  warm  interest  in  the  country  of  his 
fathers.  That  country  on  the  Jordan  has  well  deserved  of  man- 
kind, as  the  cradle  of  the  patriarchs,  of  his  nationality,  of  his 
doctrine,  of  the  Jewish,  the  Christian  and  the  Mohammedan 
religions.  But  his  historical  horizon  is  vaster  and  his  mission, 
as  distnctly  outlned  by  his  Teachers  and  confirmed  by  history, 
embraces  the  globe  with  all  its  human  myriads.  Nearly  2,000 
years  ago  he  has  been  robbed  of  his  proper  country,  and  has  since 
become  a  citizen  of  the  world.  Wherever  he  finds  a  soil  for  the 
Decalogue,  there  he  settles  and  works  for  the  good  of  his  new 
country.  He  is  expecting  and  busily  preparing  for  the  advent 
of  a  better  future,  for  mankind's  liberation  from  superstition,  ig- 
norance, pauperism,  political  and  sectarian  oppression ;  from  folly, 
vice  and  tears,  for  the  reign  of  truth,  freedom,  universal  educa- 
tion and  happiness  for  all,  the  platform  of  the  Sinaic  Law.  He 
has  been  these  last  2,000  years,  especially,  struggling  for  freedom 
of  conscience,  for  human  dignity,  for  justice  to  all,  for  the  aboli- 
tion of  all  distinctions  of  race  and  caste,  for  the  cessation  of  the 
reign  of  privileges  and  war,  and  the  beginning  of  the  dominion 
of  justice  and  sympathy  to  all,  for  the  platform  of  an  improved 
and  reconciled  humanity  under  the  aegis  of  One  God  and  father. 
Let  us  quote  an  example : 

THE  SYLLABUS  OF  1870  AND  ISRAEL'S  PLATFORM. 

The  last  third  part  of  the  past  19th  Century  gloomily  rang  with 
the  debates  and  defying  reports  from  clerical  Rome,  from  the 
ecclesiastical  Court  at  the  Tiber,  the  Vatican.  The  present  gen- 
eration has  listened  still  to  the  dying  utterances  of  that  papal 
syllabus  of  1870,  the  ultimatum  which  the  Tiber-Pontifex  Maxi- 
mus  gave  to  the  19th  century  civilization.  Rome  that  no  longer 
conquers  by  her  whilom  legions,  tried  the  force  of  her  bulls. 
Once  more  she  made  the  effort  and  sent  forth  her  demons  of 
superstition  to  enslave  the  world.  The  present  pontiff  wisely 
never  more  showed  any  such  mediaeval  proclivities.  It  was  then 
the  last,  I  hope.  In  that  syllabus  the  head  of  the  Trinitarian 
Church  proscribed  all  the  great  conquests  of  the  modern  times 
and  their  efforts,  all  that  man  has  gained  since  Luther,  Calvin, 
Zwingli  and  Knox  to  Washington  and  Franklin,  Lessing,  Kant, 


THE  SYLLABUS  OF  1870  AND  ISRAEL'S  PLATFORM.      229 

Mirabeau  and  Lafayette;  since  the  Renaissance  to  the  American 
and  the  French  Revolutions.  All  that  the  Vatican  solemnly  rep- 
robated and  stigmatized  as  heresy  and  sheer  damnation.  In  one 
immense  net  it  entangled  and  anathematized  man's  freedom  of 
government,  of  belief,  of  thought,  of  speech,  of  the  press  and  of 
action;  universal  suffrage,  universal  education  and  all  efforts  for 
future  amelioration.  The  Syllabus  binds  you,  hand  and  foot, 
gags  your  mouth,  hushes  your  voice  and  delivers  you  over,  pros- 
trate, at  the  feet  of  the  confessional  and  the  despotism  in  church 
and  State.  Such  were  once  the  traditions  and  the  aspirations  of 
the  official  church  and,  historically,  they  are  as  yet  the  same. 

In  presence  of  such  a  dread  defiance,  a  few  Hebrew  ministers, 
convened  then  (1870)  in  Cleveland,  felt  inspired  with  the  Macca- 
bean  courage,  and  deemed  it  their  sacred  duty  to  take  up  the 
gauntlet  flung  into  the  blushing  face  of  the  19th  century,  of 
modern  democracy  and  of  civilization.  As  a  protest  against  the 
Syllabus,  those  Hebrew  ministers  proclaimed  the  noble  religious 
and  social  platform  of  Judaism.  We  have  above  seen  it.  The 
reader  knows  it,  it  is  saliently  and  diametrically  opposed  to  the 
Syllabus ;  it  vindicates  and  upholds  the  Magna  Chnrta  of  human 
rights.  In  the  above  discussion  of  our  theme,  we  have  again 
and  again  emphasized  these  grand,  humanitarian  and  universal, 
doctrinal,  spiritual,  moral,  social  and  political  principles  of  the 
Mosaic  Religion.  They  are  the  platform  this  Code  and  faith 
stand  upon.  Do  you  detect  there  any  privileges  of  race,  any 
prejudice  of  sect?  Can  you  suggest  any  other  set  of  principles 
upon  which  all  men  can  peaceably  unite  as  brethren?  No!  it  is 
the  only  one,  that  of  the  Decalogue,  there  is  no  other  one !  The 
civilized  world  has  long  ago,  silently,  mentally,  adopted  it,  at 
least  in  theory.  The  best  and  noblest  of  all  races  stand  and  act 
upon  it.  Our  noble  United  States  Constitution  is  framed  upon  it. 
Educated,  fair-minded  people  of  all  creeds  admit  that  "the  right- 
eous of  all  sects  will  enjoy  eternal  life."  All  profess  that :  "Love 
thy  neighbor  as  thy  self"  applies  not  alone  to  the  members  of  such 
a  creed  and  such  a  denomination,  but  to  the  entire  human  family. 
All  believe  in  civil  and  religious  liberty,  in  government  for  the 
good  of  the  entire  people,  exercised  by  the  best  of  the  people.  All 
expect  man's  messianic  redemption  by  the  elevation  and  frater- 
nization of  the  human  race;  its  improvement  by  education,  fru- 
gality, better  economics  and  morality;  by  freedom,  work  justice 


230  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

and  sympathy.  And  all  that  stands  upon  the  immovable  rock 
of  the  Legislation  at  Sinai,  upon  the  eternal  basis  of  the  Deca- 
logue. 

Nevertheless  the  official  world  hesitates  to  fully  accept  the 
foundation  upon  which  this  platform  stands :  The  divine  Unity ! 
Can  this  declaration  of  principles,  can  the  Decalogue  stand  with- 
out Monotheism ;  without  "I  am  the  Eternal  ?" . . .  No  !  Hesitat- 
ingly, slowly,  yet  surely,  the  bright  day  of  the  Divine  Unity  and 
of  the  human  fraternization  is  approaching.  Some  more  instruc- 
tion imparted  to  the  people,  a  little  more  outspokenness  on  the 
part  of  the  expounders,  teachers  and  the  educated  classes,  and 
Monotheism  will  prevail,  the  last  creedal  discrimination  will  dis- 
appear. Jew  and  Gentile,  already  one  in  the  sciences  and  the 
State,  will  be  one  in  doctrine  too.  Then  Jew  and  Gentile  will 
pray  together  in  the  words  of  Maleachi  (II.  10),  "Have  we  not 
all  one  father,  has  not  one  God  created  us  all,  why  shall  we  not 
be  true  to  one  another !  And  the  Eternal  Father  will  graciously 
look  down  upon  his  reconciled  children.  He  will  unite  them  all, 
in  justice  and  sympathy.  The  Malkhus  Shamaim,  the  Kingdom  of 
heaven  will  dawn  upon  earth  and  together  they  will  proclaim : 
"Hear  O  Israel-mankind,  the  Eternal  Being  is  God,  the  Eternal 
is  One." 

All  hail  to  you,  O  Israelites,  all  hail  to  you,  children  of  Adam, 
the  great  day  of  redemption  is  approaching,  its  footsteps  are 
visible  on  the  heights  of  human  intellect.  Let  everyone  of  us 
contribute  towards  its  definite  arrival.  Let  every  one  do  it  by 
kindness  and  truthfulness,  by  enlightenment  and  education,  by 
dropping  all  prejudices  and  antiquated  preconceptions  against  his 
fellow-men,  of  whatever  creed,  race,  or  country;  by  honest  work, 
correct  thinking,  modest  demeanor,  active  virtue  and  humane 
sympathy.^  Let  us  therefore  not  be  discouraged  by  the  slow 
advance  of  mankind,  the  tardy  arrival  of  the  Messiah.  Let 
every  one  assist  and  strenuously  contribute  towards  the  advent 
of  the  epoch  foretold  by  the  sages  and  prophets  of  old  and  of 
modern  times :  "When  the  kingdom  of  heaven  will  improve  the 
world  and  one  God  be  universally  acknowledged ;  when  all  idola- 
tries will  disappear  and  make  room  for  the  great  messianic  time 
of  reason  and  justice,  when  God  will  be  one  and  humanity  one.^ 


iRIicha;  and  Lessing's  Nathan  the  Wise. 
SA-aoration  prayer.     Sach.  14,  10.— Is.  52,  7. 


23t 

VIII  Study. 
ISRAEL;    CHAMPION  OF  THE  DECALOGUE. 

(II  M.,  19.8)  "All  God  has  spoken,  we  will  do!" 

We  have  seen  the  Decalogue  is  the  Central  Doctrine  of  Mo- 
saism  and  the  base  of  human  civilization,  advocated,  pro- 
pounded and  championed  by  Israel,  its  banner-bearer;  that 
Israel  is  not  the  opponent,  but  the  ethical  teacher,  marching 
in  the  van  of  mankind,  during  the  last  three  thousand  five 
hundred  years ;  that  this  is  his  allotted,  historical  task,  his 
providential  mission,  from  Sinai  to  Washington.  Let  us  now 
review  history  and  see  whether  this  is  substantiated. 

Every  people  or  group  of  men  combined  in  a  state,  has  a  task 
to  fulfill,  a  mission  to  accomplish,  some  elements  of  civilization, 
some  part  of  the  providential  harmony  in  history,  especially 
allotted  to  it,  to  work  out.  That  task  conscientiously  and  en- 
ergetically performed,  the  people  thrives,  holds  its  own,  de- 
velops into  ever  larger  proportions,  into  a  historical  nation,  a 
great  race ;  failing  to  do  so,  it  decays  and  dwindles  into  a  tribe, 
a  clan,  a  horde  and  is  finally  absorbed  into  and  supplanted  by 
another  people,  better  adapted  to  fulfill  its  expectation  and 
solve  the  providential  problem. 

So  the  task  of  ancient  Assyria,  Babylonia  and  Persia  was  to 
do  the  work  of  unifying  the  hundreds  of  inimical  and  ever 
warring,  petty  states  and  clans  and  form  vast,  continental,  as- 
similated nations,  out  of  a  host  of  conflicting,  heterogeneous 
barbarians,  by  Bismarck's  "blood  and  iron  policy,"  Assur, 
Nabuchadnezzar,  Dejocet,  Cyrus  really  first  practiced  it.  With 
greater  success  still  did  Rome  take  up  their  task,  when  they  had 
collapsed.  Rome  cultivated  the  world-State-idea,  in  combina- 
tion with  law,  agriculture  and  professional  warfare :  From  753 
A.  C.  to  476  P.  C.  throughout  twelve  centuries,  that  was  its 
historical  mission.  According  to  the  myth,  its  founders,  Rom- 
ulus and  Remus  were  the  sons  of  the  god  of  war,  they  were 
suckled  by  a  she-wolf,  the  elder  then  murdered  the  younger, 
occupied  alone  the  throne  and  made  war,  the  state-idea 
the  nerve  of  the  Romans.  The  spirit  of  that  harsh  and  gloomy 
myth  is  the  true  historical  cue  to  Rome's  problem.  Phoenicia, 
Carthage  and  their  numerous  colonies  built  up  commerce,  in- 
dustries, crafts,  navigation  and  colonization.     That  was  their 


232  EXODUS,  MOSES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

providential  problem :  To  connect  the  different  fractions  of 
mankind  separated  by  mountains,  deserts,  seas  and  great  dis- 
tances, and  make  them  the  highways  and  connecting  links  of 
far  away  peoples.  As  Persia  and  Rome  founded  empires  on 
land,  so  they  bound  up  and  civilized  maritime  dominions  no 
less  wonderful.  Another  task  was  that  of  the  Greek,  far-famed 
Peninsula.  The  Hellenic,  multiple,  puny  republics  were  great 
still  in  another  sense.  They  cultivated  freedom,  manhood, 
patriotic  wars,  arts  and  sciences.  Puny  Greece  whose  terri- 
tory, north  and  south  combined,  would  not  have  satisfied  one 
of  the  Persian  satraps,  which  "had  hardly  standing  room  for 
the  Persian  hosts  counting  by  millions,"  puny  Greece  produced 
in  the  higher  realms  of  human  activities,  more  genius  and 
talent  than  all  the  other  contemporaneous  peoples  put  together 
— one  people  excepted,  the  Jewish  one.  This  people  and  the 
Greek  one  became  the  great  factors  of  human  civilization,  the 
two  wheels  of  the  globe's  chariot  of  advance.  Even  so  have  mod- 
ern nations  their  historical  allotments,  achievements  and  their 
own  national  genius.  Russia  seems  to  have  inherited  the 
Medo-Persian  task,  agglomeration  of  states  by  brute  force. 
The  Teutonic  races  regenerated  the  effete  Romano-Greek  so- 
ciety, first  by  infusing  into  it  fresh  blood  and  spirit,  then  by 
their  purer  civilization,  derived  from  their  recent  biblical  eth- 
ics. England,  Holland  and  the  United  States  of  North  America 
appear  to  continue  the  problems  of  Phoenicia,  Carthage  and 
Greece  combined,  viz. :  the  cultivation  of  freedom,  political  and 
social,  on  one  hand,  of  commerce,  industry  and  dominion  of 
the  sea  on  the  other  hand.  France  and  Italy  appear  to  be  heirs 
to  the  versatility  and  impulsiveness  of  Athens  especially,  for 
good  and  for  bad.  We  now  arrive  at  the  other  great  factor  of 
human  advance,  Israel.  As  all  the  great  races,  even  so  the  Hebraic 
one,  has  its  own  special,  historical  mission  in  the  human  con- 
cert, conforming  to  its  providential  genius;  Israel's  task  is  re- 
ligion. Religion  in  its  broadest  sense,  the  ethical  obligations, 
activities  and  aspirations,  the  moral  instincts  of  human  nature, 
the  cultivation  of  duty,  piety,  goodness,  equity,  all  that  is  most 
useful  to  civilized  society ;  the  Categoric  Imperative :  That 
man's  motive  and  rule  of  conduct  should  not  be  power,  interest, 
pleasure,  wealth,  but  wisdom,  conscience,  truth,  justice — duty! 
Our  duty  because  so  ordained  by  God,  by  the  v/orld's  pre- 


ISRAEL  AS  THE  CHAMPION.  233 

established  Moral  Order;  because  it  is  the  rule  of  Eternal 
Wisdom,  Justice,  fitness,  inherent  in  nature  and  proclaimed  by 
the  voice  of  God — that  is  Israel's  great  contribution,  that  is  his 
mission  to  mankind.  Some  Greek  sages  guessed  it  darkly,  the 
Prophets  clearly  saw  and  distinctly  revealed  it,  and  Israel 
heroically  championed  it. 

When  Israel  stood  around  Horeb,  three  thousand  and  five 
hundred  years  ago,  narrates  a  hoary  biblical  tradition,  listening 
to  the  world-redeeming  revelation  which  has  since  become  the 
Great  Charter  of  civilization,  man's  Bill  of  Rights  and  Duties; 
when  he  listened  to  the  grand,  far-reaching  ideal :  "Ye  shall 
be  unto  me  a  kingdom  of  priests  and  a  holy  nation,"  viz. :  a 
free,  moral,  cultivated  people,  with  no  nobles  and  no  mob,  no 
plutocracy  and  no  paupers,  no  Brahmans  and  no  Pariahs,  but 
each  and  every  one  a  free  man  and  a  citizen,  working  and  think- 
ing, knowing  and  doing  his  duty  and  enjoying  his  rights,  an 
equal  member  of  the  national  democracy — then  they  answered 
(II  M.,  19,  6-8)  "All  the  Eternal  has  bidden  we  will  do." 

It  will  be  the  theme  of  this  chapter  and  this  volume  to  show 
that  this  tradition  is  confirmed  by  history.  History  proves 
that  from  Sinai  to  Shilo,  Karmel,  Jerusalem,  the  Diaspora  and 
Washington,  for  three  thousand  and  five  hundred  years,  in  all 
great  emergencies  and  crises,  Israel  collectively,  as  a  people, 
representing  one  socio-ethical  doctrine,  has  kept  his  hoary 
promise,  has  clung  to  his  task,  has  never  consulted  interest, 
popularity,  ease  or  power,  but  alone  and  only  duty,  conscience; 
that  he  has  resigned  country,  sacrificed  home,  comfort,  life, 
and  did  what  conscience  bade  him  do;  did  what  he  believed 
that:  "God  has  spoken."  Through  vicissitudes  unparalleled 
and  harrowing  sufferings,  he  has  proved  himself  true  to  his 
milliennial  mission,  to  his  solemn  promise  at  Sinai :  "Whatever 
the  Eternal  has  spoken,  we  will  do."i  Israel  has  never  sur- 
rendered, never  given  up  his  providential  task.  God  with  thee! 
March  on,  bear  and  abide,  thou  historical  sufferer,  onward !  No 
surrender ! 


(II  M.  19, 8—24, 7)  ycL'oi  H^yj  .n'j'yj  n'  "im  "ie^'k  ^3 


234 

"LE  GUARDE  MEURT  ET  NE  SE  REND  PAS."  ^ 

There  is  a  modern,  historical  legend  with  a  pointed  motto, 
well  illustrating  our  theme,  viz.:  When  in  1815  C.  E.,  near 
by  the  Hollandish  village  of  Waterloo,  the  French  Grand 
Army  under  Napoleon,  was  finally  beaten  by  Wellington  and 
Bluecher,  and  proudly  summoned  to  surrender,  the  imperial 
guards  shouted  in  reply:  "La  Guarde  meurt  et  ne  se  rend  pas." 
"The  Guard  dies,  but  will  not  surrender."  This  legend  in 
French  history,  is  a  reality  in  Jewish  history,  a  rousing  fact, 
proven  and  demonstrated  there  for  thirty-five  centuries,  a 
stern  deed,  evidenced  and  repeated  on  a  hundred  battlefields, 
over  and  over,  during  the  career  of  the  Patriarchal  people,  the 
imperial  guard  of  Monotheism,  the  Decalogue,  the  One  Living 
God,  mankind's  Charter  and  platform.  The  people  of  Sinai 
did  answer  and  act  upon  the  motto :  "The  Guard  dies,  but  sur- 
renders not."  Israel  has  had  a  hundred  Waterloos  in  his  mil- 
lennial history.  From  Moses  to  Washington  and  Roosevelt,  a  hun- 
dred times  he  has  been  challenged  and  vehemently  called  upon  to 
surrender,  and  every  time  he  shouted  back :  "Israel  dies,  but  sur- 
renders not!" 

In  our  present  time  of  skepticism,  worldliness,  chilling 
selfishness  and  prudence,  in  both  the  camps,  Jewish  and  Gen- 
tile, with  antagonistic  anti-Semitism  on  one  hand,  and  on  the 
other  religious  indififerentism,  it  is  the  sacred  duty  of  the  pro- 
phetic "watchman  in  the  night"  to  raise  his  voice  and  thrill 
the  heart  and  the  conscience  of  the  reader  with  the  recital,  the 
picture,  the  deeds  and  the  sufferings  of  the  past,  that  our  young 
may  learn  how  to  grapple  with  the  difficulties  of  the  present  and 
how  to  vanquish  them. 

IHVH'S  BATTLES. 

During  the  long  period  between  Moses  and  Ezra  (1500—460 
B.  C.),  Israel  was  yet  but  a  federation  of  tribes,  one  of  the 
many  peoples  inhabiting  Khanaan,  rather  held  together  alone 
by  race  and  history,  not  yet  fully  conscious  of  their  identity 
in  religion,  nationality  and  racial  task,  far  from  Monotheism  in 
reality,  constantly  amalgamating  with  the  surrounding  clans  in 

iThe  Guard  dies,  but  surrenders  not!  First  published  in  part  in 
1870,  Jewish  Messenger,  New  York. 


IHVH'S  BATTLES.  235 

creed  and  matrimonial  unions.  Thus  Eliahu  (I  Kings,  18.21) 
forcibly  brought  out  the  crisis  of  differentiation :  "Why  do 
you  halt  between  two  ways?  Why  sit  between  two  stools? 
Why  are  you  wavering  between  Ihvh  and  Baal,  montheism 
and  polytheism,  right  and  might,  duty  and  interest,  virtue  and 
sensuality?  And  that  was  a  happy  crisis.  The  people  awoke 
at  his  powerful  voice  and  dimly  realized  that  Ihvh,  the  Su- 
preme Being,  is  God,  not  Baal  and  Ashtoreth.  So  the  ball 
began  rolling  against  idolatry,  and  at  the  time  of  Ezra,  Mono- 
theism came  out  victorious,  with  pure  religion,  religion  not 
as  a  barren  scheme  of  empty  ceremonialism,  but  as  a  pregnant 
program  of  human  life,  of  virtue,  wisdom  and  useful  activity. 

From  Zerubabbel  and  Ezra  to  the  Maccabeans  (535 — 167) 
Jewish  consolidation  and  assimilation  began  to  take  place.  The 
original  twelve  clans  of  the  Benai-Israel  and  the  later  two 
opposition  empires  and  claims  of  Ephraim  and  Jehuda,  fused 
into  the  one  people  and  country  of  Judaea.  The  remnants  of 
the  aborigines,  Moebites,  Edomites,  etc.,  were  all  absorbed. 
After  a  thousand  years  of  warfare  and  strife,  they  gradually 
became  one  nation  and  one  doctrine :  Monotheism  and  Israel, 
Judaism  and  the  Decalogue.  They  became  also  one  blood  and 
race,  homegeneous  in  feeling  and  in  creed.  That  full  and 
rinal  unification  took  place  within  Judaea  and  Judaism.  Whilst 
zvithotit,  the  final  differentiation  between  Israel  and  paganism 
was  effected.  Monotheism  definitely  separated  from  polythe- 
ism. A  Jev/  meant  not  simply  an  inhabitant  of  Judaea,  but  one 
distinguished  by  creed,  deed,  life,  habits  and  speech  from  other 
nationalties — just  as  much  as  white  from  black.  The  world 
then,  was  simply  marked  out  by  these  dividing  lines,  Jewish 
and  Gentile,  monotheistic  and  polytheistic,  duty  and  pleasure, 
justice  and  interest,  purity  and  sensuality.  Judaism  was  not 
a  purely  theological,  religious  or  metaphysical  denomination ; 
no,  it  was  sharply  defined  and  differentiated  in  practical  life,  in 
food,  drink  and  dress,  in  education,  speech,  habits,  thinking, 
believing  and  feeling. 

When  now  167  B.  C.  Antiochus  IV  (Epiphanes)  arose  with 
the  determined  design,  the  arms  and  terrors  of  his  all-power, 
as  the  head  of  the  then  greatest  empire  of  the  world,  to  efface 
that  distinction  and  assimilate  Jew  and  Gentile,  when  he  called 

Maurice  Fluegel's  Exodus,  Moses  and  the  Decalogue. 


236  EXODUS,    MOSES   AND   THE    DECALOGUE. 

upon  the  Jews  to  surrender  their  doctrinal  and  practical  peculiarit- 
ies, merge  with  others  and  become  Greeks,  they  stoutly  an- 
swered :  No !  "Whatever  God  has  bidden,  we  shall  do —  No  sur- 
render !"  The  Syrian  Great  king  displayed  his  overwhelming 
forces  and  waged  his  bloody  war  against  the  Hebraic  nationality, 
without  leaders,  arms  and  treasury,  nevertheless  it  insisted :  ''The 
guard  (of  the  Decalogue)  dies,  but  surrenders  not !"  Nearly  thirty 
years  that  Maccabean  warfare  lasted.  Judaea  was  totally  devas- 
tated and  ruined.  Not  two  stones  were  left  in  the  same  place. 
Every  hill  became  a  fortress,  every  iron  an  arm,  every  man  a 
patriot  and  a  soldier,  everything  was  staked  upon  that  issue :  re- 
ligion and  nationality.  At  last  the  Graeco-Syrian  empire  yielded, 
was  vanquished  and  shattered.  The  dynasty  of  the  Seleucidae, 
the  heirs  to  the  largest  part  of  Alexander's  world-empire,  split  in 
opposite  factions  and  became  a  prey  to  Rome  and  its  neighbors. 
Whilst  puny  Judaea  remained  the  victor,  for  a  time  a  considerable 
power,  the  cradle  of  that  spirit  destined  to  conquer  paganism. 

JERUSALEM  AND  ROME. 

From  the  rise  of  the  Maccabeans  to  the  struggle  against  Rome, 
Israel  prepared  himself  for  his  world-contest.  Israel,  monotheism 
and  Decalogue  on  one  side;  Rome  and  the  world  and  poy- 
theism  on  the  other.  That  epoch  lasted  from  170  B.  C.  to  70  P.  C. 
Jerusalem  and  Rome  were  respectively  the  capitals  of  these  two 
programs :  Monotheism  or  polytheism,  duty  or  interest,  force  or 
right,  man's  two  poles.  The  Jewish  world  had  the  spirit,  the 
Gentile  one  the  sword.  So  each  proved  the  stronger  in  its  own 
domain,  hence  the  terrible  clash  and  shock.  The  Roman  state- 
religion  was  unhinged  and  wavered.  It  had  lost  its  hold  upon 
the  people,  and  the  Gentile  masses  began  to  listen  to  the  call  that 
"from  Zion  comes  the  law,  and  the  word  of  God  from  Jerusalem." 
Rome,  Alexandria,  Antiochia,  Damascus  apparently  inclined  to- 
ward the  Decalogue.  The  gods  of  the  Olympus  paled  and  faded, 
and  ever  more  discredited.  The  Gentiles  turned  their  eyes  toward 
the  faith  and  the  morality  of  Jerusalem.  Greek  sages  still  taught 
ethics,  but  they  had  no  basis  to  build  upon.  The  Olympian  pow- 
ers were  mere  phantoms,  abstractions  and  often  rather  quoted  as 
examples  for  vice.    The  state  was  unhinged  since  the  fall  of  the 


JERUSALEM  AND  ROME.  237 

Julians.^  The  legions  now  created  the  Caesars,  four  emperors 
struggled  for  mastery.  Rome  rested  solely  on  intrigues  and  the 
sword.  Sensualism,  ambition,  brute  force,  cunning  and  over- 
reaching were  put  up  as  the  standard  of  wisdom.  Society  felt 
dismayed.  Negation  is  no  base  for  life.  The  people  need  a  posi- 
tive, encouraging,  spiritual  principle,  and  for  that  they  looked 
up  to — Jerusalem.  After  the  decay  of  Graeco-Syria,  Rome  be- 
came the  head  of  the  Gentile  world,  and  hence  the  great  opponent 
of  Jerusalem.  The  two  represented,  respectively,  might  and  right, 
iron  and  spirit,  war  and  peace,  conquest  and  work,  sensuality  and 
duty,  pleasure  and  holiness,  the  monotheistic  Decalogue  and 
Olympian  polytheism.  So  the  conflict  became  unavoidable,  bitter, 
desperate,  one  of  life  and  death.^  Mighty  Rome  was  deeply 
shaken  by  it.  Four  emperors,  as  said,  claimed  her  throne.  Gaul 
and  Germany  arose  in  arms,  the  empire  tottered  fearfully.  She 
used  her  best  legions  and  generals  with  the  entire  pagan  world 
on  her  side  to  vanquish  puny,  isolated  Judaea,  after  a  fierce,  bloody 
war  of  four  generations  from  63  B.  C.  and  Pompaeus  to  70  P.  C., 
Vespasian  and  Titus.  At  last  Rome  and  Asia,  combined,  conquered 
Jerusalemi,  reduced  her  to  a  heap  of  ashes,  killed,  dispersed 
and  scattered  her  children,  who  died  for  her  cause,  first  in  Ju- 
daea, soon  wherever  there  v/as  a  Jewish  settlement  throughout 
Asia  and  Africa.  They  perished  under  the  Sinaic  war  cry :  "The 
guard  dies,  but  surrenders  not!" 


1  Tacitus  histor.,  liber  1,  II.  Opus  aggredior  opimum  casibus,  atrox 
prseliis,  discors  seditionibus,  ipsa  etiam  pace  ssevum.  Quatuor  Principes 
ferro  interemti.  Trina  bella  civilia  plura  externa  ac  plerumque  per- 
mixta . . .  .  Jam  vero  Italia  novis  cladibus,  vel  post  longam  sseculorum 
seriem  repetitis,  afflicta.  Haustae  aut  obrutse  urbes.  .  .  .Urbs  incendiis 
vastata,  consumtis  antiquissimis  delubris,  ipso  Capitolio  civium  mani- 
bus  incenso:  pollute  cseromonise:  magna  adulteria:  plenum  exiliis 
mare:  infecti  caedibus  scopuli.  Atrocius  in  urbe  ssevitum.  Nobilitas, 
opes,  omissi  gestique  honores  pro  crimine,  et  ob  virtutes  certissimum 
exitium. 

2  Tacitus  histor.  liber  5,  XXVIII.  At  major  belli  moles  in  Judsea 
agitabatur.  Titus,  cum  cuncta  expugnandis  Hierosolymis  apta  strux- 
isset,  adulto  jam  vere,  operi  institit,  morarum  impatiens.  Utrimque 
paribus  animis  certatum.  . .  . 

Ibid.  30.  Nee  hostilium  virium  aspectus,  nee  promissa,  ne  horrenda 
quidem  fames,  quae  jam  saeviebat,  feroces  animos  molliere.  Immo  ipsi 
transfugse,   Titi   dementia   in   castra   Romana   recepti,   occulta   medita- 

bantur  crimina Ultionemque  nova  ruina  parabat  Joannes.  . .  .Simonis 

enim  instinetu,  tres  juvenes.  . .  .urbe,  raptis  facibus,  egressi,  machinas 
aliis  aggeribus  impositas,  per  medios  hostes,  per  tela,  per  gladios, 
incendendas  susceperunt,  et  incendere. ..  .Adverse  casu  baud  fracta 
Titi  constantia. 


238  EXODUS,    MOSES    AND   THE    DECALOGUE. 

But  their  soul,  the  spirit  of  Jerusalem,  did  not  die.  The  Deca- 
logue was  not  buried  under  her  ruins.  No !  The  Decalogue  con- 
quered Rome's  sword.  Jerusalem,  collapsed  in  Judaea,  re-arose, 
phoenix-like,  out  of  her  ashes — in  Rome.  Rome  putting  her  foot 
on  the  neck  of  her  rival,  crucifying  her  defenders  by  the  thou- 
sands, throwing  them  to  the  lions  in  the  circus,  selling  them  by 
the  hundreds  of  thousands  as  slaves  in  her  markets — Rome  soon 
knelt  before  her  doctrine  and  her  humble  exponents  in  her  own 
capitol.  With  dismay  she  heard  repeated  in  her  own  temples  the  old 
Judaean  shout  re-echoing  from  the  prophets :  "From  Zion  goes 
forth  the  teaching  and  the  word  of  God  from  Jerusalem."  Jupi- 
ter-Zeus had  to  leave  his  place  in  the  capital  and  yield  it  to  the 
foot-stool  of  Israel's  Only  One.  Mt.  Olympos  had  to  bend  down 
and  take  upon  its  shoulders  the  Mount  Moriah.  The  statutes 
of  the  divinities  were  hurled  into  dust  before  the  memories  of 
the  leaders,  prophets,  bards  and  psalmists  of  Juda  and  of  Ephraim. 
As  announced  by  Isaiah :  In  days  to  come  will  the  Mount  of  the 
house  of  Ihvh  be  exalted  above  all  the  mounts  and  thereto  the 
nations  will  stream  in  pilgrimage  (Is.  II.  2)." 

So  after  Rome  had  bodily  destroyed  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem's 
spirit  shattered  the  Roman  sword.  The  Roman  imperial  sword 
was  broken  and  the  cross  erected  instead,  the  cross  to  which  Rome 
had  been  nailing  the  Judaean  patriots  for  nearly  two  centuries. 
That  same  cross  now  became  the  symbol  for  Rome's  ecclesiastical 
empire,  the  scepter  in  the  hands  of  her  spiritual  rulers,  the  popes, 
who  came  to  occupy  Caesar's  throne  as — successors  to  a  Jewish 
teacher  crucified  by  her  centuries  ago.^  She  claimed  and  ruled 
the  Roman  world  in  the  name  of  Sinai,  the  Decalogue  and  the 
Judaean  moralist !  The  disciples  of  that  man,  a  handful  of  en- 
thusiasts, armed  indeed,  not  with  the  sword  of  Rome,  but  with 
the  spirit  of  Jerusalem,  overturned  Mt.  Olympos  as  did  the  Ti- 
tans of  old,  by  the  spell  of  the  teachings  of  Mt.  Moriah  under  the 
aegis  of  the  Decalogue  and  monotheism,  under  the  old  war-cry 
of:  "From  Zion  comes  the  law,  and  the  word  of  God  from  Je- 
rusalem." They  chased  the  Olympian  powers  into  the  rural  dis- 
tricts, hence  called  pagans  and  converted  the  proud  gods  into 
humble,  poor  devils — daimonia.  The  Roman  world,  accepting 
that  Judaean  Teacher  as  their  Messiah,  apparently  accepted  mono- 
theism, the  Bible  and  the  Decalogue,  in  the  train  of  that  man. 


iSee  Messiah  Ideal,  Vol.  II,  on  that. 


239 

DECALOGUE  AND  POLYTHEISM. 


Yes,  apparently,  but  not  really !  Happy  for  the  world  and  for 
Israel  if  that  had  been  the  case.  Unfortunately  it  was  not  so. 
The  Gentile  conversion  was  too  hasty,  hence  superficial.  It  was 
simply  a  compromise  with  the  ancient  mythology,  so  much  warned 
against  by  the  Bible.  Concessions  after  concessions  were  made 
on  vital  points,  and  the  Gentile  New- Judaism  soon  appeared  to 
be  but  a  disguised  polytheism,  a  crude,  halfway  compromise  ef- 
fected by  state-craft.  The  new  creed  was  so  latitudinarian,  so 
broad,  vague,  elastic,  that  any  and  every  nation,  Syrians,  Egyp- 
tians, Greeks,  Romans,  could  easily  persuade  itself  that  it  teaches 
but  her  own  inherited  doctrines  and  old  views,  differing  in  words 
and  forms  alone.  The  Gentile  world  was  thus  allowed  to  freely 
enter  the  wide  portals  of  the  church  on  their  own  terms,  with  all 
their  idols  and  proclivities,  each  retaining  their  old  polytheistic 
beliefs,  tastes  and  practices.  Could  Israel  join  such  a  program? 
The  Decalogue  was  formally  adopted,  but  after  mutilation  and 
decapitation :  "1  am  thy  God,  thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods" — 
had  to  give  way  to  trinity :  God-Eternal  yielded  to  God-born, 
dead  and  resurrected;  God  One  and  pure  spirit,  to  God-incar- 
nate, man-god,  yea,  even  to  images ;  the  harmonious  world  "very 
well  created,"  to  one  made  by  the  Evil  one ;  earth's  noblest  crea- 
ture, man,  made  in  the  image  of  God,  viz. :  with  reason,  free  will, 
virtue  and  happiness,  became  the  son  of  hell,  heir  to  unavoidable 
sin  and  disappointment;  all  creation,  withered  and  accursed,  a 
failure,  a  vale  of  tears,  the  inheritance  of  the  devil.  Man  was  dis- 
honored, tainted  with  original  sin,  made  for  pain,  error  and  mis- 
fortune, his  best  deeds  and  virtues  but  shining  vices,  and  all  his 
efforts  of  no  avail  to  ward  off  perdition — because  Adam  and 
Eve  had  enjoyed  of  the  forbidden  fruit !  That  crime  required 
that  God  himself,  or  at  least  his  son,  should  expiate  it  on  the 
cross  and  atone  for — those  only  who  profess  to  believe !  believe 
in  things  contrary  to  all  reason,  whilst  all  other  men  are  to  remain 
irretrievably  lost .  . . 

All  these  strange  doctrines  did  not  grow  on  the  tree  of  the 
Bible.  They  came  from  Judaean  mysticism  and  from  Persian, 
Greek,  Egyptian  mythologies.  Never  did  Jesus  or  his  Judaean 
apostles  teach  such.  Paul  and  the  Gnostics  did  that  first,  next  the 
Gentile  Christians  of  later  centuries.     Thev  were  finallv  elabo- 


J240  EXODUS,    MOSES   AND   THE    DECALOGUE. 

rated  and  formulated  by  the  still  later  imperial  hierarchs,  not  as 
a  well  digested,  logical,  harmonious  whole,  but  rather  as  a  theo- 
logical mosaic,  an  ecclesiastical  compromise,  and  a  political  make- 
shift, trying  to  satisfy  all,  and  having  in  view  diverse  countries,  doc- 
trines and  peoples,  so  as  to  make  each  believe  that  his  own  dogmas 
are  openly  or  silently  confirmed,  and  that  by  changing  the  name, 
every  one  retained  his  old  religious  substance.  That  was  smart 
politics,  but  poor  logic  and  poorer  theology.  And  that  compro- 
mise became  doctrine  and  part  of  orthodox  Christianity.  Could 
Juda  accept  and  abide  by  such  a  motley  Judaism !  The  heathen 
v/orld  entering  into  the  Church  and  claiming  to  represent  reno- 
vated, reformed  New-Judaism,  did  not  only  tamper  with  the  lead- 
ing rational  doctrines  of  old  Judaism,  no,  it  radically  changed  its 
practice  and  theory,  life  and  tenets.  The  entire  positive  command- 
ments and  polity  of  the  Pentateuch  had  to  give  way  to  the  pre- 
vious Gentile  practices.  The  Sabbath  and  holidays  were  abolished. 
The  Mosaic  Law,  insisted  on  by  Jesus  still  as  the  will  of  Ihvh, 
and  all-important  to  man's  salvation — that  very  Mosaic  Law  was 
declared  by  Paul,  as  "the  root  of  evil,"  good  to  stimulate  sin,  not 
to  save !  Faith  in  the  Triune-God,  in  the  Man-God,  was  alone  de- 
clared as  the  condition  of  salvation.  Old  Judaism  postulated  good 
deeds,  as  the  outcome  of  the  correct  creed,  of  rational  principle, 
as  the  fruit  from  the  root;  Paulinian  Christianity  declared  that 
creed  is  all  and  deed  is  nothing,  all  human  virtues  being  but 
^'brilliant  vices."  Old  Judaism  wisely  hedged  in  and  consecrated 
the  pure  human  instincts,  joys  and  aspirations.  The  rabbis  called 
that  "building  up  the  world. "^  New-Judaism  withered  them  as 
the  fangs  of  the  devil ;  so  was  marriage,  work,  providing  for  to- 
morrow. The  monastery  was  the  ideal,  the  world  not  worth 
existing.  Old  Judaism  taught  one  law  for  priest  and  commoner,  for 
native  and  foreigner,^  a  free  state,  free  citizen  and  free  church, 
all  obeying  the  one  and  same  law.  New  Judaism  as  old  polytheism, 
kept  up  discriminating  laws,  castes  and  conditions  and  made  the 
Church  the  hand-maid  of  state-rulers.  Constantine  the  Great,  made 
the  church  subservient  to  his  ambitions ;  he  was,  according  to  op- 
portunity, an  unbeliever,  a  polytheist,  a  Christian  and  a  zealot, 
ever  watching  the  drift  of  popular  opinion. — Whilst  again  later. 


iSanhedrin  24b.     Mishna  and  Gemara:    lushab  ha-olom. 

2(111  M.  24,  22)  One  right  for  all  of  you,  the  alien  as  the  native. 


DECALOGUE  AND  POLYTHEISM.  241 

his  priestly  successors  at  Rome  and  Byzantine  ruled  the  state  as 
the  hand-maid  of  the  church.  The  popes  claimed  ownership  of  the 
world  as  the  representatives  of  Peter,  Peter  as  the  vicar  of  the 
messiah,  the  messiah  as  the  vicar  of  God ;  three  assumptions  with 
as  many  usurpations,  all  against  the  Decalogue.  Thanks  to  this 
threefold  usurpation,  they  assumed  a  fourth  one,  viz :  to  be  heir  to 
the  Caesars,  the  masters  of  the  occidental  world  and  rivals  of 
the  em.perors,  east  and  west. 

For  long  these  dangerous  claimants  fomented  divisions,  hates 
and  wars  in  Christendom  and  for  a  while  actually  succeeded  in 
being  considered  as  the  spiritual  and  political  heads,  the  suzerains 
of  the  world — all  as  the  successors  of  a  Jewish  moralist  who  had 
died,  now  some  nineteen  centuries  ago,  who  had  disclaimed  prop- 
erty and  war,  who  would  not  have  two  coats,  nor  two  meals  with- 
out giving  one  to  his  poorer  brother.  Soon  these  crowned  popes 
strangled  conscience,  upset  boundaries,  deposed  kings,  established 
bloody  inquisitions,  proscribed  whole  nations  who  perished  for 
their  conscience  and  portioned  out  the  world  at  their  pleasure 
Now  all  that  polity  began  to  be  initiated  and  enacted  since  the 
fourth  cenhury,  with  Constantine  and  the  Council  of  Nicaea,  and 
was  the  fatal  consequence  of  the  hasty  compromise  made  with 
the  polytheistic  converts,  the  Gentile  Christians,  a  compromise 
accepting  de  jure,  the  Decalogue  and  idolatry  de  facto.  Trinity 
the  goddess-mother,  the  cross  emblem,  the  cult  of  images,  relics 
and  saints,  the  abolition  of  holidays  and  the  seventh  day  sabbath, 
etc.,  all  these  were  concessions  made  to  Egyptian,  Syrian,  Greek 
and  Roman  mythologies.  Judaism  teaches  religion  as  a  means 
to  enlighten,  improve  and  pacify  men.  The  polytheistic  view  is 
that  religion  is  a  fit  tool  in  the  hands  of  the  rulers  to  deceive, 
frighten  and  subdue  the  people.  Could  Israel  join  hands?  Could 
Old- Judaism  fuse  and  abdicate  in  favor  of  New- Judaism?  Was 
prophetism  fulfilled?  Did  the  wolf  and  the  lamb  graze  together? 
No !  Hence  Israel  had  to  go  on  and  continue  the  battle.  He  did 
it  at  any  cost  and  any  price :  "The  guard  dies  and  never  sur- 
renders !" 


242 

ISLAM  AND  THE  JEWS. 

We  come  to  the  rise  of  Islam.  From  the  fourth  century  P.  C. 
onwards,  the  retrogression  towards  polytheism  passed  on  rapidly. 
The  remnants  of  the  Jew-Christians,  viz. :  Jews  believing  that 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  the  Messiah,  were  pushed  back  and  thrown 
out  of  the  ecclesiastical  councils ;  and  Christianity,  the  New- 
Judaism,  ever  more  loom.ed  away  from  its  mother-religion,  grad- 
ually and  in  fact  it  became  disguised  polytheism.  Worship  was 
not  paid  to  God-the-Father,  very  little  even  to  God-the-Son,  but 
mostly  to  Mary-the-Goddess-Mother.  As  in  Egypt,  Isis  was  the 
leading  goddess,  as  in  Greece  Athene,  in  Rome  Minerva,  the 
female  cult  was  preponderant.  Even  idolatry  was  not  eradicated. 
After  Mary,  the  new  saints,  their  relics,  their  images  and  statues 
had  their  shrines  and  worship.  Priest-craft,  miracle-workings, 
and  beatifications  abounded  and  found  their  popular  veneration. 
Ambition,  self-apotheosis  and  overreaching  joined  superstition, 
brutalized  the  masses  and  made  rank  scoffers  of  the  classes.  Thus 
from  325  to  600  P.  C.  gradually  true  religion  had  dwindled  away, 
superstition  and  priest-craft  remained,  and  reaction  had  to  come. 
We  stand  now  at  the  threshold  of  a  new  historical  epoch  (622 
P.  C.)  That  reaction  against  hypocrisy  and  idol  worship  came,  it 
started  from  an  Arab- Jewish  center,  Mecca,  the  leading  city  of 
Arabia.  Many  Jewish  clans  had  fled  thereto  from  devastated 
Judaea,  had  occupied  free  territories  and  erected  there  independ- 
ent principalities.  Others  lived  in  Arabian  communities,  as  in 
Mecca,  and  influenced  them  by  their  higher  culture,  purer  morals, 
rational  religion,  finally  also  by  intermarriage,  to  such  an  extent 
that  the  Jewish  worship  and  race  were  very  popular  there.  The 
religious  upheaval  started  in  Mecca.  Its  initiator  was  Moham- 
med, a  member  of  its  leading  clan,  the  Koreishites,  a  nephew  of 
the  Guardian  of  the  Kaaba,  the  national  Arabian  Temple.  Moham- 
med was  of  Arabian  parents,  not  unmixed  with  Israelitish  blood.  He 
had  surely  Jewish  connections  and  teachers  of  whom  he  had  re- 
ceived popular  instructions  in  Hebraic  views,  legends  and  doctrines, 
a  deal  of  biblic  and  Midrashic  lore.  Of  such  materials,  fused  with 
native  Arabian  ideas  and  tastes,  he  formed  his  socio-religious 
system,  later  brought  out  as  his  bible,  the  Koran.  He  taught: 
There  is  but  one  God,  the  only  one  of  the  Jewish  Bible  by  Moses 
and  the  prophets.  He  is  Eternal,  pure  spirit.  Creator  and  Provi- 
dence.    There  is  no  divine  incarnation,  no  vicar,  no  son  of  God 


ISLAM  AND  THE  JEWS.  243 

and  no  images  of  Him.  Idolatry  is  the  greatest  abomination.  The 
Old  Testament  is  God-inspired,  binding  in  its  moral  and  doctrinal 
part  upon  his  Arabian  followers,  not  its  other  local  and  purely 
Hebraic  elements.  He  accepted,  at  first,  the  Sabbath  and  the 
Atonement  Day,  as  also  Jerusalem  as  the  Kebla  of  his  adherents, 
and  aspired  to  be  recognized  by  the  Jews  as  Prophet  or  Messiah. 
He  had  sincerely  adopted  the  doctrinal  part  of  the  Decalogue,  but 
not  so  its  practical  ethics,  the  second  half  of  it;  here  he  had  to 
reckon  with  his  Arabian  environments  and  followers.  They  would 
not  easily  accept  the  universality  of  its  moral  law  peremptorily 
forbidding  murder,  lust,  treachery  and  robbery,  and  Israel  could 
not  accept  a  Messiah  without  a  moral  law.  So  they  had  to  fight — 
which  they  did  under  the  war-cray  of:  "Whatever  the  Eternal 
has  bidden,  w^e  shall  do.  The  guard  dies,  but  surrenders  not!" 
So  they  lost  the  great  opportunity  of  gaining  a  powerful  leader 
and  friend.  They  lost  Arabia,  several  independeht  principalities, 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  their  own,  slaughtered  or  sold  as  slaves 
— but  they  clung  to  their  identity,  to  the  Decalogue,  in  doctrine, 
and  practice.  The  Arabian  Jews  were  startled  and  delighted  at 
his  advent.  But  when  he  asked  recognization,  as  prophet,  leader, 
and  Messiah,  when  they  closer  examined  into  his  aspirations  and 
habits,  his  Arabian  sensuality,  his  Bedouin  cupidity,  his  warlike 
rapacity  and  unscrupulousness,  his  cruelty,  ambitious  v/ars  and 
greed  of  conquests,  all  perfectly  natural  in  a  native  Arab,  bred 
among  his  own  people,  but  scantily  favored  with  a  glimpse  into 
the  higher  ethics  of  the  Jews  and  the  Bible — when  the  Arabian 
Jews  comipared  their  own  biblical  ethics  with  those  of  the  Arabian 
Prophet,  the  Messiah  portrayed  by  Isaiah,  Micah,  etc.,  with  that 
embodied  in  Mohammed,  they  could  not  accept  him  as  prophet 
and  their  exponent.  And  Mohammed  was  not  great  enough  to 
condone  with  their  scruples.  From  a  warm  friend  he  became  a 
bitter,  remorseless,  ruthless  foe,  and  exterminated  them  from 
Arabia. 

THE  CRUSADES  AND  THE  JEWS. 

The  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  brought  out  a  new  dark 
phase  of  history,  the  Crusades.  The  Occident  and  the  Orient 
engaged  in  a  gigantic  duel.  Europe  was  the  aggressor  for  this 
time,  not  Asia.     It  was  a  tremendous  effect  from  a  cause  v/hich 


244  EXODUS,    MOSES    AND   THE    DECALOGUE. 

to  us  moderns  is  seemingly  inadequate.  Christian  Europe  rose 
against  Mohammedan  Asia  and  for  two  centuries  battled  over  the 
possession  of  a — grave,  for  puny  Palestine  with  the  grave  of  the 
founder  of  the  Nazarene  faith.  During  two  hundred  years  that 
duel  v/as  fought,  without  any  result  whatever,  except  perhaps 
that  the  prestige  of  the  Church  came  out  damaged  and  that  the 
thick  ice-crust  of  madiaeval  clerical  rule  began  to  burst  and  melt 
away  at  the  sun  of  the  slowly  dawning  Renaissance.  The  Sara- 
cens remained  masters  of  the  battle  ground.  But  during  this 
long  clash  between  the  creeds  of  Nazareth  and  of  Medina,  a 
tragic  interlude  was  going  on,  mournfully  telling  upon  the  Jewish 
people  living  scattered  among  the  fierce  contending  parties. 
Whilst  the  Christian  hosts  rolled  on  as  a  lava-stream  against  the 
infidel  Mohammedans,  they  remembered  that  on  their  way  there, 
they  met  with  myriads  of  Jews  who  had  no  sympathy  with  their 
fanatical  warfare,  who  claimed  that  the  Promised  Land  belonged 
not  to  either  of  the  belligerents,  but  to  themselves,  who  were, 
moreover,  unbelievers,  decried  as  decides,  who  had  no  arms  for 
self-defense,  but  were  reported  to  have  gold.  These  frequent 
groups  of  Jewish  settlem.ents,  at  that  time,  perhaps  the  only  green 
spots  on  earth  of  law-abiding,  orderly,  working  people,  among 
that  semi-barbarous  mediaeval  "society  of  wolves  and  bears,"  the 
red-crossed  marauders  attacked  with  the  savage  and  fanatical 
challenge  of :  "Baptism  or  death  !"  This  was  the  horrifying  inter- 
mezzo of  the  unreasonable  strife  between  cross  and  crescent.  A 
dreadful  havoc  took  place.  Whole  districts  of  Jewish  peaceful 
and  industrious  colonies  were  pillaged  and  devastated,  entire  com- 
munities were  slaughtered  and  destroyed,  yea,  by  hundreds  of 
thousands.  Western  Israel  perished  nearly  all,  but  they  yielded 
not  their  faith :    "The  guard  dies,  but  surrenders  not.".  . . 

SPAIN. 

The  same  mournful  motto  was  illustrated  at  the  end  of  the 
fifteenth  century.  Spain  and  Portugal  had,  for  many  centuries, 
been  engaged  in  deadly  feud  with  the  Moors,  the  former  masters 
of  the  once,  fiercely,  Christian  Gothic  Pyrenean  peninsula.  That 
Romano-Gothic  population  there  had  yielded  to  the  Moors  and 
retired  within  the  inaccessible  natural  fastnesses  of  the  frontier 


SPAIN.  245 

mountains.  Gradually  Moorish  Spain  decayed,  her  erst  brilliant 
and  powerful  monarchy  split  into  several  principalities.  The 
last  one,  Granada,  was  finally  conquered  by  united  Christian 
Spain  under  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  These  then  determined 
upon  the  total  expulsion  of  the  Moors  from  regained  Spain,  they 
being  still  too  numerous  and  warlike,  hence  dangerous.  As  to  her 
large  Jewish  population,  that  was  as  yet  spared  and  conciliated 
to  the  new  catholic  polity,  seemingly  treated  as  fellow  citizens, 
and  allowed  to  participate  in  the  new  state,  society,  honors  and 
emoluments.  They  continued  masters  of  the  industries,  com- 
merce, arts,  sciences,  navigation,  and  were  thus  possessed  of  office, 
wealth  and  power.  But  at  last,  when  the  Moors  had  been  suc- 
cessfully and  totally  expelled,  the  turn  of  the  Jews  came.  As  the 
Pharaohs  of  old,  the  Spanish  hierarchy  and  the  princes  feared : 
"Lest  the  children  of  Israel  might  increase,  join  the  enemies  and 
drive  the  natives  out  of  the  land."^  Apparently  the  Spanish-Hebrew 
citizens  were  its  most  useful  population,  counting  no  doubt  over 
a  million.  But  old  Gothic  popular  prejudices  were  fiercely  aroused 
against  them :  Misgivings  of  the  church,  jealousies  of  the  nobil- 
ity, frequent  risings  of  the  mob,  pillage  and  incendiarism,  dra- 
gooning to  the  mass  and  forcible  conversions  were  oft-repeated 
occurrences.  At  last  they  were  plainly  informed  that  they  had  to 
choose  between  baptism  or  exile.  When  Queen  Isabella  still  hesi- 
tated to  sign  the  decree  of  expulsion,  Torquemada,  her  confessor, 
rushed  into  the  royal  council-room  with  the  crucifix  in  hands, 
shouting:  "Will  you  again  sell  Christ  for  a  sum  of  money?" 
Isabella  signed  the  decree  of  the  banishment  of  the  entire  Spanish- 
Hebraic  population.  Apparently  the  majority  thereof  had  grad- 
ually yielded,  assuming  the  mask  of  Marranos,  or  Neo-Chris- 
tians.  At  least  300,000  of  the  remaining  ostracized  Jews  left 
the  Spanish  peninsula.  Many  of  whom  were  destroyed  on  the 
sea  fleeing  for  Morocco  or  Turkish  territories.  They  perished  by 
the  treachery  of  the  captains  of  their  boats,  by  sickness,  pestilence 
and  down  right  drowning.  A  mere  remnant  reached  Turkey, 
Egypt,  Palestine :  "The  guard  dies,  but  will  not  surrender. .  . . 
What  God  has  bidden,  we  shall  do.".  . . 


III.  M.  I,  10. 


246 

WESTERN  EUROPE,  POLAND. 

The  sixteenth  century  came  on,  with  persecutions  of  the  Jews 
in  the  West  of  Europe.  England,  France  and  West  Germany 
envied  Spain  and  Portugal  for  their  good  luck,  having  robbed 
their  Judaic  fellow  citizens,  killed  a  part  and  forcibly  converted 
or  expelled  their  entire  Israelitish  population.  So  the  European 
Northwest  imitated  Spain.  A  decree  of  banishment  was  issued 
against  them.  Their  grounded  property  nobody  wanted  to  buy 
and  it  thus  became  worthless.  They  left  with  their  families,  their 
ancestral  faith  and  the  beggar's  staff,  under  the  old  watchword : 
*'No  surrender !    All  the  Eternal  has  spoken  we  shall  do." 

They  wandered  to  Eastern  Europe,  especially  to  Poland.  This 
was  then  a  vast  empire,  semi-civilized  and  but  half  Christianized. 
The  aristocracy,  Boyars,  Shlachtis,  owned  and  occupied  the  land, 
under  a  free,  loose  constitution,  a  limited  monarchy,  lax  and  dis- 
obeyed laws.  They  formed  the  upper  social  strata,  the  conquerors 
of  the  aboriginal  subjugated  inhabitants.  Whilst  these  latter  ones 
were  the  tillers  of  the  soil,  serfs,  attached  to  the  glebe,  scarcely 
emerged  from  barbarism.  This  upper  class,  or  nobility  needed  a 
middle  class,  brain-workers,  industrials,  skilled  laborers,  lower 
and  higher  mechanics,  merchants,  financiers,  scholars,  profes- 
sionals, artists,  craftsmen,  traders,  middlemen  between  the  barons 
and  the  peasant  serfs ;  to  utilize,  manufacture,  transport  and  dis- 
tribute the  raw  produce  and  native  commodities,  by  factory,  shop, 
export,  import,  commerce  and  navigation  to  render  their  vast  but 
backward  empire  a  productive  member  of  the  civilized  world.  The 
noblemen  occupied  their  attention  and  leisure,  as  everywhere  else, 
with  sport,  politics,  gallantry  and  warfare ;  the  enslaved  masses 
with  the  small  trades  and  principally,  agriculture.  The  middle 
link,  the  intermediate  class,  the  brain-workers  and  skilled  labor- 
ers, were  missing.  So  the  nobility  eagerly  invited  the  industrious 
Jews  expelled  from  the  West,  to  enter  their  country  and  society, 
leaving  to  them  the  open  position,  the  rights  and  the  emoluments 
of  the  badly  missing  middle  class,  the  higher  social  workers,  so 
urgently  necessary  between  the  lordly  few  and  the  serving  masses. 
The  newcomers  were  admitted  to  all  the  civil  rights  and  also 
some  of  the  political  privileges.  They  promised  to  develop  the 
resources  of  the  country  by  their  superior  activity  and  civilization, 
their  finances,  sciences,  industries,  arts  and  business  talents.  It 
did  not  take  long,  and  these  new  settlers  began  to  prosper  there 


WESTERN  EUROPE,  POLAND.  247 

and  fulfil  all  that  their  Gentile  hosts  had  reasonably  expected  of 
them.  Juda's  old  wounds  began  to  close,  the  bent  exiles  began  to 
walk  straight  and  erect.  They  increased  in  numbers,  wealth  and 
social  importance. 

But  soon  a  turn  of  fortune  came  on.  The  aristocracy  grew 
more  and  more  turbulent,  impatient  of  law  and  especially  of  any 
and  every  strong  and  centralized  government.  Anarchy  went  on 
increasing.  While  neighboring  grim  Russia,  Prussia,  Austria  pro- 
gressed in  the  opposite  direction,  they  framed  laws,  insisted  on 
civic  justice  and  order,  centralized  the  civil,  military  and  political 
powers  in  the  hands  of  the  government  and  thus  gained  a  great 
start,  by  social  and  political  stability,  over  the  light-hearted  and 
disorderly  Polish  independent  nobles.  The  inevitable  came  on, 
mutiny  cropped  up,  factions  became  ungovernable.  The  Cos- 
sacks rebelled  and  made  war  upon  the  distracted  Polish  provinces, 
under  a  bold  leader,  Bogdan  Chlemizky.  The  nobles  retired  into 
their  lordly  castles.  But  the  inoffensive  and  defenseless  Hebrews, 
having  no  fastnesses,  no  arms,  no  prestige  and  no  leaders,  became 
a  prey  to  the  marauders.  They  first  ransomed  themselves  with 
their  money.  But  the  situation  required  iron;  gold  attracted 
rather  the  Cossacks.  The  isolated,  defenseless  Hebrews,  reputed 
rich,  were  pillaged,  miany  slaughtered ;  as  many  more  fled  to  the 
West  of  Europe,  whence  they  had  come  over  a  century  previously. 
The  present  German  Jews  are  descendants  of  those  Polish  refu- 
gees; whilst  the  present  millions  of  Hebrews  in  Poland,  Russia, 
Roumania  are  the  posterity  of  their  once  Germanic  ancestors, 
hence  their  German  jargon,  intermixed  with  Slav  and  Hebrew. 

THE  MARRANOES. 

About  the  same  time,  the  seventeenth  century,  similiar  religious 
and  racial  persecutions  and  under  the  same  war-cry,  were  resusci- 
tated and  enacted  in  Spain  and  in  Portugal.  Those  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  Hebrews  who  had  there  been  forcibly  converted  to 
the  Church,  known  then  as  Marranos,  viz :  converted  Jews,  con- 
tinued, in  spite  of  their  baptism,  to  be  marked  out  to  the  populace 
as  a  suitable  target  for  derision,  malevolence,  pillage  and  frequent 
onslaught.  They  were  suspected  of  relapse,  that  under  the  mask 
of  Christianity,  they  had  remained  secretly  Jews ;  a  separate  class. 


248  EXODUS,   MOSES   AND   THE   DECALOGUE. 

generally  intermarrying  only  among  themselves,  keeping  up  their 
Judaic  practices  and  idiosyncrasies,  their  aristocratic  manners  and 
separateness,  their  inherited  wealth,  their  commercial  monopolies, 
their  international,  secret  relations,  and  that  as  pretended  Chris- 
tians they  were  accaparating  and  occupying  high  offices  in  State,  in 
Church  and  even  at  Court,  They  were  especially  suspected  by 
the  Church  as  Judaizing,  viz. :  as  keeping  up  not  only  Jewish 
ideas  and  theories,  strictly  monotheistic  and  biblic,  but,  on  special 
solemn  occasions,  practicing  Jewish  rites,  customs,  observances, 
dietary  habits,  discriminations  in  marriage,  on  Sabbaths,  holidays 
and  fast-days.  They  were  thus  under  suspicion  of  being  still 
Jews  at  heart  and  in  mind.  Tales  were  running  that  Spanish 
grandees  were  surprised  in  their  secret  conclaves,  in  garret  or  in 
cellar,  in  prayer,  on  the  Atonement  Day,  or  Passover  Eve,  fasting 
and  confessing,  or  enjoying  the  unleavened  cakes  (Mazza)  behind 
bolted  doors.i  Many  court  ladies  were  detected  with  an  amulet, 
inscribed  with  the  solemn  credo  (Shema),  close  to  their  bosom. 
Yea,  Marrano  bishops  were  found,  officiating  at  church  in  their 
robes  and  crucifix — and  a  Hebraic  talisman  close  to  the  heart.  A 
rigid  inquisitional  tribunal  was  instituted,  with  spies  and  guard- 
ians to  watch  over  renegades.  Their  servants,  their  creditors, 
their  employees,  their  enemies  were  encouraged  and  abetted  to 
espy  and  denounce  them.  At  the  least  indices  of  "judaizing,"  they 
were  incarcerated,  their  fortunes  sequestered  or  confiscated,  their 
children  torn  from  their  arms  and  placed  in  monasteries.  Whilst 
they  personally  had  to  answer  to  an  inquisitorial  interrogatory ;  the 
wrack,  wheel,  thumbscrew  and  other  torments  were  applied  to 
their  bodies  to  force  a  confession  of  apostasy.  Such  mysterious 
procedures,  often  auto-de-fe's  on  the  market  place  were  enacted  to 
strike  terror  and  enhance  the  awe  for  the  holy  mother,  Church ! 

In  such  a  manner  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Marranoes  were 
frightened  back  and  kept  within  the  folds  of  the  faith  of  Rome, 
while  myriads  perished  under  tortures  or  in  fire,  and  thousands 
found  means  of  escape  to  North  Italy  and  France;  especially  to 
Holland,  which  was  then  breaking  away  from  the  tyranny  of 
Spain  and  therefore  inclined  to  tolerate  those  unhappy  victims 
of  fanaticism,  priestcraft  and  tyranny  combined. 


^  ^y  ^non  'niEK'.  of  the  Agada,  may  be  a  remnant  thereof,  now  said 
with  open  doors  to  guard  against  espionage.  "Pour  out  thy  wrath 
over  the  barbarians." 


249 

TRACES  IN  THE  RITUAL. 


Marranos  were  forcibly  converted  Jews  of  Spain  and  Portugal. 
The  etymology  is  very  obscure.  I  give  it  as  my  own  guess  that 
it  is  derived  from  the  corrupted  popular  pronunciation  of  the 
Hebrew  word  abarianim,  root  abar,  transgress,  and  at  the  same 
time,  Ebri,  Hebrew.  Ahrian,  denoting  a  transgressing  Hebrew,  a 
Jewish  Apostate. 

In  the  well-known  introductory  prayer  of  the  Atonement  Eve, 
we  read:  "With  the  consent  of  the  meeting  on  high  and  below 
(of  God  and  the  Congregation)  we  allow  to  pray  with  the 
Abarianim"  (the  transgressors).  That  refers  to  the  Marranos, 
and  is  a  later  intercalation  of  the  Spanish  period  of  enforced  bap- 
tism. May  be  even,  it  is  of  earlier  centuries  of  such  forced  con- 
versions frequent  in  mediaeval  and  later  history.  This  intro- 
ductory Kol-Nidrai-prayer  intimates  that  such  apostates  were 
nevertheless  considered  as  Jews,  admitted  to  the  Congregation  at 
worship,  and  absolving  them  of  their  oaths  of  allegiance  to  the 
new  faith  forced  upon  them. 

A  certain  critical  tact  is  my  guarantee  for  this  hypothesis. 
The  reader  may  use  his  own  judgment.  Mark  well,  the  root  let- 
ters of  Abarianim:  I?  3  "i  the  identical  ones  of  both  the  words 
abar,  trespass,  and  Bbri,  Hebrew ;  the  rest  are  suffixes,  ian  and  im. 
The  bulk  of  that  prayer  shows  on  its  face  that  it  was  composed 
much  earlier  than  the  Spanish  period,  in  Syria-Babylonia,  when 
religious  vows  were  in  vogue ;  later  on  neglected,  and  during  the 
Spanish  persecutions  re-introduced,  with  the  preamble  and  the 
conclusion  alluding  to  the  Marranos,  half  estranged,  but  still 
Jews  at  heart:  "Let  it  be  forgiven  to  the  entire  Congregation  of 
Israel  and  to  the  convert  dwelling  among  them,"  viz :  the  con- 
verted, Jewish  Apostate,  abarianim  =^  Marrano  in  slang. 

THE  GHETTO. 

The  eighteenth  century  arrived,  when  the  Church  felt  bitterly 
disappointed  on  realizing  that  Spanish  Judaism  still  exists  and 
still  clings  to  the  old  faith  of  the  Decalogue ;  that  neither  spolia- 
tion, exile,  terrorism  or  even  fire-death  were  potent  enough  to 
hold  them  in  the  spiritual  ranks  of  the  majority,  though  often 
enough  dragooned  into  the  church.    The  hierarchy  now  invented 


250  EXODUS,    MOSES    AND    THE    DECALOGUE. 

a  new  method  of  conversion,  the  Ghetto,  viz.,  ostracism  and  exile 
within  the  very  limits  of  the  cities.  The  Jews  were  ordered  to 
remove  from  the  respectable  parts  of  each  town  and  to  settle  apart, 
in  dismal,  out  of  the  way  lanes,  suburbs  or  districts  for  themselves, 
separated  by  iron  gates  and  walls  from  the  rest  of  the  place.  They 
were  thus  bodily,  ideally  and  socially  divided  ofif  from  the  Chris- 
tian community,  relegated  into  specially  discriminated  Jewish 
quarters,  Jewries,  Jew-lanes,  and  there  treated  as  outcasts,  gyp- 
sies and  pariahs.  Such  Jewries  were  termed  Ghetto,  of  a  doubtful 
etymology  (perhaps  Hebrew  Goloth,  exile,  or  German  Gasse, 
lane)  ;  located  on  the  extremity  of  the  town,  a  picked  out  gloomy, 
unhealthy  quarter,  close  to  the  dumping  grounds,  the  dunghills 
and  swamps,  with  narrow  crowded  alleys,  with  dingy,  petty,  awk- 
ward-looking, many-storied  huts,  with  little  free  space,  light  and 
air;  locked  up,  from  without,  by  frowning  walls  and  iron  gates, 
during  every  night;  the  near-by  dumping  grounds,  the  narrow 
lanes  and  crowded  high  houses  rendering  its  climate  the  least 
salubrious.  In  day-time  the  Jew  could  go  to  town,  peddling,  shop- 
ping, or  on  his  brokerage-errands,  but  well  marked  off  from  the 
rest  of  the  population,  by  a  yellow  round  patch  of  cloth,  attached 
to  his  hat  or  on  his  breast,  thus  singled  out  as  a  target  for  the 
mob,  exposed  to  insults,  stones  and  pillage.  He  was  not  admitted 
to  any  public  office,  to  any  honorable  employment,  to  the  public 
schools,  to  any  respectable  trade,  to  gain  a  clean,  honest  morsel 
of  bread.  Alone  the  trades  of  pawn-broking,  loaning  out  on  in- 
terest, "usury,"  selling  old  clothes  and  peddling  were  kept  open  to 
him — or  baptism!  So  he  remained  in  the  Ghetto,  economically 
a  pauper,  socially  a  pariah,  industrially  a  drudge,  but  mentally 
and  ethically  very  often  by  far  superior  to  the  dominant  popula- 
tion, even  to  the  nobles  and  the  clergy.  A  gypsy  politically  and 
socially,  he  was  still  devoted  to  study,  thinking,  poetry;  to  Bible, 
Talmud,  sciences,  arts;  morally  by  far  superior  to  his  tormentors 
and  his  converters.  Mendelssohn  and  his  Jewish  generation 
were  reared  and  grew  up  in  such  a  gloomy  ghetto.  Boerne,  Heine 
and  hundreds  of  compeers  well  knew  it  as  the  cradle  of  their  race. 
The  American  and  the  French  Revolutions  broke  out,  proclaimed 
the  equality  of  races  and  creeds,  with  freedom  of  conscience  and 
universal  suffrage.  Lafayette  and  Mirabeau,  Robespierre  and 
St.  Juste  vindicated  the  freedom  and  equality  of  all  men.     So  the 


THE  GHETTO.  251 

Jew,  too,  shouted  hosannah !  The  Ghetto-walls  crumbled  and 
fell;  the  inmates  began  to  mingle  with  their  fellowmen.  The 
French  Revolution  did  the  great  work  of  emancipation  practically. 
The  American  one  had  preceded  it  theoretically.  So  dawned  the 
nineteenth  century.  Was  now  the  old  war-cry  silenced:  Was 
Israel  no  longer  asked  to  surrender  or  die?  Let  us  continue  and 
see. 

THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 

The  nineteenth  century  was  ushered  in  with  the  great  tocsin 
and  the  Messianic  trumpet  of  the  American  and  the  French  Rev- 
olutions, by  the  sound  of  the  rousing  Marseillaise  under  the  peace- 
motto  of :  Liberty,  equality  and  fraternity !  An  entire  phalanx 
of  Jewish  bards,  artists  and  enthusiastic  writers,  of  the  caliber  of 
Heine,  Boerne,  Zunz,  Auerbach,  Meyerbeer  greeted  the  new  flag 
with  their  paeans  and  their  styles.  Thousands  of  Jewish  youths 
enlisted  under  it,  fought  and  died  under  it,  in  those  gigantic  con- 
tinental liberation  wars.  Israel,  too,  thought  to  be  entitled  to  the 
benefits  of  the  new  era.  The  Ghetto-walls  were  pulled  down  un- 
der the  blast  of  the  freedom  and  equality  cornet.  Alas,  but  the 
reawakening  from  that  fraternity  dream  soon  followed.  He  had 
got  his  emancipation  without  the  necessary  struggle,  the  spring 
came  without  its  previous  storms,  and  it  soon  proved  insecure. 
Liberty  must  be  conquered,  not  obtained  as  a  gift.  Equality  and 
freedom  were  first  granted  to  them  as  French  citizens,  but  soon 
came  the  bargaining,  taking  away  and  again  doling  it  out  by  piece- 
meal and  diverse  discriminations.  And  this  shameful  game  of 
cat  and  mouse,  of  wolf  and  lamb,  has  been  going  on  during  all 
this  long  nineteenth  century:  "All  human  beings  are  free  and 
equal ;  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  soil  are  citizens ;  all  tax-payers 
have  the  vote ;  every  duty  corresponds  to  a  right ;  that  is  one 
phase.  But  soon  another  phase  emerged :  No !  The  Jews  are 
foreigners,  aliens,  not  free,  not  equal,  not  citizens,  they  are 
Semites  !  O  shame  !  At  the  very  close  of  this  vaunted  nineteenth 
century  we  were  dumbstruck  at  the  horrifying  shrieks  from  Rus- 
sian pogroms;  from  Roumanian  noyades  and  expulsions ;  by  the 
French  Drey  fuss  cause  celcbre ;  by  East-European  ritual-murder- 
trials.     Daily   we   are  astonislied   at   the   anti-Semitic   venomous 


252  EXODUS,   MOSES   AND   THE   DECALOGUE. 

harvest  springing  up  all  over  the  area  of  modern  civilization.  It 
began  with  puny  Roumania,  where  the  writer  of  these  pages  made 
his  first  campaigns  in  defense  of  his  unhappy  countrymen,  and 
where  he  labored  and  hoped  in  vain  to  carry  their  emancipation  to- 
gether with  that  of  the  country .^  Therefrom,  pest-like,  it  spread  to 
Germany.  Germany's  pedants  indorsed  that  modern  social  malady, 
anti-Semitism  :  The  Jew  is  not  to  be  hated  for  not  believing  in  trin- 
ity, not  on  account  of  his  religion,  but  of  his  race,  his  nationality. 
He  is  not  an  Aryan.  No,  he  is  a  Semite.  This  silly  theory  would 
soon  have  blown  over,  if  not  for  Russia,  well  prepared  for  such 
a  dragon's  seed,  by  its  Moscovite  barbarism,  by  its  brutalized 
peasantry,  by  its  fanaticized,  diversely  compounded  populations. 
In  that  half-Asiatic  Russia  the  Romano-Teutonic  dragon-seed 
has  developed  most  venomous,  mephitic  miasma.  I  do  not  wish 
to  start  any  Cassandra  forebodings :  May  be  that  cloud  of  barbar- 
ism will  soon  collapse  and  disappear,  and  may  be  not.  It  may 
spread  throughout  the  civilized  West  and  cover  with  its  funeral 
ashes  the  face  of  more  advanced  Europe.  The  nineteenth  century 
started  under  bright  auspices,  the  twentieth  shows  a  relapse. 

For  two  generations  an  inoffensive,  semi-oriental  population, 
counting  by  many  millions,  the  very  bulk  of  an  ancient  nationality, 
has  been  there  ostracized,  outlawed,  at  last  banished  and  cast  out. 
Old  and  young,  gray  heads,  women  in  child-bed,  delicate  children, 
have  been  torn  from  their  humble  homes  and  dragged  away, 
starving,  in  midwinter,  to  the  Pale  of  Russia,  or  over  her  fron- 
tiers, into  exile  and  destruction.  Pogroms  were  planned  and 
executed  with  the  connivance,  even  with  the  foreknowledge  of  the 
rulers.  Incendiarism,  pillage,  rape  and  murder  were  openly  toler- 
ated, enacted,  encouraged,  in  presence  of  the  military,  against  an 
inoffensive,  defenseless,  law-abiding  people,  counting  by  millions 
— for  being  Jews,  for  clinging  to  the  faith  of  their  ancestors,  for 
praying  in  the  language  of  the  Patriarchs  and  the  very  founders 
of  earlier  Christianity ! 

Even  in  Germany  it  is  fashionable  to  Jew-bait,  belittle  the  He- 
brew, set  him  down  as  an  alien  in  his  step-mother  country ;  him 
who  had  lived  there  before  Caesar  conquered  the  Rhine,  or  Tra- 
janus  subjugated  the  Dacians,  for  two  thousand  years  there  was 
his  country,  stood  there  the  cradle  of  his  children,  was  there  the 


1  During  the  years  1859  to  1864. 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  253 

tomb  of  his  fathers,  for  long  centuries  before  Charlemagne  plant- 
ed there  the  cross.  And  all  these  prophetic  populations  bear  and 
suffer  under  the  old  war-cry:  "The  guard  dies,  but  will  not 
surrender !" 

We  stand  now  in  the  twentieth  century,  and  this  war-shout  rings 
still  in  our  ears :  The  minorities  must  die  or  surrender !  Listen, 
hear !  The  shrieks  of  the  Poles  in  Prussia,  of  the  Jews,  Poles  and 
Tartars  in  Russia,  of  the  various  oppressed  in  Bohemia,  Ireland, 
Roumania,  Galicia,  Bosnia;  the  Fins  and  Germans  on  the  Baltic 
shores ;  anti-Semitism  makes  its  appearance  in  Austria,  France, 
even  in  England.  Alas,  have  not  there  labored  Huss  and  Coper- 
nicus, Joseph  II.  and  Dome,  Lessing  and  Mendelssohn,  Kant  and 
Humboldt?  Here  Mirabeau,  Cremieux,  Adolphe  Franck,  Gam- 
betta ;  there  Montefiore,  Disraeli,  Jessel.  A  thousand  other  liberal 
minded  statesmen,  scholars,  writers,  poets,  artists  have  illustrated 
Europe.  Still  the  minorities  are  aliens !  Still  anti-Semitism  ex- 
ists !  As  in  olden  times  of  Pharaoh  and  of  Haman,  so  later  of 
the  crusaders  and  the  Spanish  fury.  So  now  of  Plehva  and  Po- 
biedonostieff.  The  Moscovite  scourge,  the  Vatican  Syllabus  and 
the  German  Jew-baiting — what  an  infernal  pedigree  belongs  to 
anti-Semitism !  These  battles  for  freedom,  Milhamoth,  Ihvh, 
have  been  fought  from  Sinai  to  the  Seine  and  the  Moscow,  under 
the  flag  of  the  Decalogue,  by  the  same  monotheistic  people,  against 
the  same  Hamans,  stupidity  and  selfishness. 

Thus  for  three  thousand  and  five  hundred  years,  from  Sinai  to 
Washington,  since  1500,  before,  to  1900  post-Christian  Era,  Is- 
rael battled  for  the  Decalogue.  For  that  lapse  of  time,  he  sacrificed 
everything  to  his  task,  as  the  expounder  and  champion  of  the 
Organic  Law  of  civilized  society.  We  stand  now  in  the  first 
decade  of  the  twentieth  century.  We  may  have  in  America  over  a 
million  and  a  half  Hebrews  as  citizens  of  this  free  country,  from 
the  very  beginning  started  on  the  broad  humanitarian  basis  of  these 
Ten  Words,  on  the  platform  of  liberty,  equality  and  fraternity; 
without  any  hierarchy  or  privileged  classes;  with  separation  of 
state  and  church ;  with  absolute  freedom  of  conscience ;  after  men 
like  Moses  Montefiore,  Ad.  Cremieux,  De  Hirsch  have  shown  the 
true  capabilities  of  the  Jew.  And  withal,  fanatics  and  politicians 
have  created  anti-Semitism ! 


254 

AMERICA  AND  NEW  JUDAEA. 

American  Israel!  Times  are  now  brighter,  at  least  in  the 
West,  at  least  in  this  New  World.  Here  at  least  I  do  believe 
there  shall  never  be  occasion  for  the  war-whoop  of  Torquemada, 
Sergius  and  the  imperial  Cossacks ;  to  fight  over  those  satanic 
warfares,  a  compound  brew  of  old  race-hatred  and  mystic  doc- 
trines, confusedly  amalgamated  with  brand-new  economical  jeal- 
ousies. Still,  even  in  America  a  few  such  danger-specks  over- 
hang our  social  sky.  There  exists  here  a  party  compounded  of 
selfishness  and  race-pride,  with  a  fringe  of  religious  fanaticism, 
which  clique  may  grow  and  become  a  real  menace  to  the  very 
foundations  of  this  unsectarian  society;  a  party  which  in  the 
face  of  our  United  States  Consticution  strives  at  introducing  prac- 
tical social  discriminations  on  denominational  and  racial  grounds ; 
which  prides  itself  even  of  being  at  heart  anti-Semitic,  anti-Ro- 
manist, anti-Eatinist,  anti-Dutchman,  which  aims  at  creating  here 
a  dominant  race  and  church,  a  blue-blood  of  some  kind ;  at  fanning 
up  slumbering  mediaeval  embers  and  shadowy  opinions,  but  really 
aiming  at  political  self-aggrandizement,  the  creation  of  an  aris- 
tocratic group,  an  American  nobility  in  state  and  government. 
Should  any  such  a  challenge  ever  come  to  you,  American  Jews, 
be  not  dismayed,  you,  too,  will  answer:  "No  surrender!  Give 
me  liberty  or  give  me  death !"  You  dearly  love  your  new  country, 
your  citizenship,  your  offices,  your  cosy  homes,  but  you  prize  and 
love  your  freedom  of  conscience,  your  old  and  venerable  origin, 
your  patriarchal  descent,  your  hoary  reminiscences,  the  long  and 
honorable  scars  of  your  three  thousand  years'  history.  You  will 
allow  no  one  to  pluck  from  the  American  escutcheon  its  grandest 
features.  A  free  conscience,  separation  of  state  and  church,  a 
state  for  all  races,  origins  and  creeds  is  the  grandest  gem  m  the 
noble  American  diadem.  Your  motto  too  will  be  as  of  yore  :  "What 
ever  God  has  spoken  we  will  do." 

Here  an  idea  strikes  me,  a  grand  vista :  It  was  in  anno  1492 
when  Columbus  set  sail  for  the  discovery  of  America  (with  Jewish 
money,  not  that  of  Queen  Isabella,  as  often  claimed).  On  board 
he  had  many  Spanish  adventurers  of  Marrano-Jewish  descent, 
and  the  very  first  European  setting  his  foot  on  the  West  Indian 
islands  was  such  a  Marrano-Jew,  his  interpreter, sent  down  by  the 
illustrious  leader  to  see,  speak  and  examine  the  native  islanders. 
Now,  consider:    In  the  same  year,  1492,  half  a  million  of  He- 


AMERICA  AND  NEW   JUDAEA.  255 

brews  were  forcibly  baptized  in  the  Spanish  peninsula.  We  can- 
not exactly  compute  how  many  were  destroyed.  At  least  three 
hundred  thousand  were  brutally  thrown  out  of  their  homes,  driven 
into  exile  and  forcibly  embarked  into  ships  for  Africa,  Turkey, 
Egypt,  Palestine,  most  of  whom  treacherously  perished  on  the 
voyage.  Now  the  idea  strikes  me,  if  instead  of  that,  they  had 
emigrated  to  America,  what  a  grand  vista  opens  before  our  eyes ! 
The  Hebraic  Plymouth  fathers  would  have  come  to  America 
centuries  earlier  and  would  have  founded  a  greater,  freer  New- 
Judaea  on  the  continent  discovered  by  Columbus. 

But  even  now  it  is  not  too  late,  four  centuries  are  lost,  still  not 
all  is  lost.  As  yet  the  American  Northwest  is  free,  vast  and  fer- 
tile enough  for  a  population  ten  times  larger  than  the  entire 
Hebraic  nationality.  To  mature  a  plan  of  immigration,  coloniza- 
tion, agriculture,  commerce  and  industries  for  an  iVmerican  New- 
Judaea  would  be  wise  and  perfectly  feasible,  desirable  in  the  ex- 
treme; for  American  natives  and  new  immigrants,  for  Christian 
and  Jew ;  for  Jewish  settlers  from  the  East  and  South  of  Europe 
who  are  ostracised  and  without  a  fatherland.  It  would  be  desirable 
for  the  American  Northwest,  as  yet  depleted  of  inhabitants  and 
little  productive  from  lack  of  brains  and  hands.  It  would  meet 
the  wishes  of  those  Eastern  and  Southern  Europeans  who  suffer 
from  over-population  or  bad  government  and  yearn  for  an  outlet 
for  their  surplus  fellowmen.  Such  a  practical  scheme  of  Jewish 
immigration  to  the  American  Northwest,  we  say,  would  be  wise 
and  practical,  patriotic,  American,  politic  and  humane.  Salutary 
for  the  Jews  and  patriotic  for  the  United  States  and  its  vast,  waste 
areas.  In  place  of  seeking  a  country  for  the  Jew  in  out  of  the 
way  regions,  teeming  with  harrowing  uncertainties,  palpable  im- 
possibilities and  insurmountable  difficulties ;  or,  instead  of  scatter- 
ing and  breaking,  shrinking  and  impeding  the  stream  of  Jewish 
emigration,  one  should  rather  lead  and  direct  it  into  its  right 
channels,  places  and  modes.  And  this  expressly  with  the  out- 
spoken design  and  intent  of  creating  a  New-Judaea  under  the 
protecting  wings  of  the  American  eagle ;  a  New-Judaean  State  as 
one  of  the  States  of  this  United  States  of  North-America ;  a  New- 
Judaea  as  Idaho,  Nebraska  or  Illinois ;  there  to  locate  the  Lion 
of  Judah  side  by  side  with  the  star-spangled  banner  of  this  vast 
democracy.  Here  is  a  fruitful  idea,  advantageous  to  the  Ameri- 
can continent,  acquiring  for  it  the  nation  of  thinkers,  of  mind, 


2S6  EXODUS,   MOSES   AND   THE   DECALOGUE. 

of  the  Bible,  and  the  Decalogue,  the  masters  of  learning  and  of 
industry;  advantageous  to  the  million  of  Jews  already  here  and 
to  the  millions  of  ostracized  Hebrews  seeking  a  home,  that  they 
may  find  it  here  on  these  hospitable  shores.  For  all  parties  con- 
cerned such  an  idea  would  be  wise  and  practically  advantageous. 
But  it  must  be  more  than  a  mere  scheme.  The  idea  must 
ripen  to  a  concrete  being,  with  a  body,  bones,  muscles  and  ar- 
teries. Such  a  scheme  I  have  submitted  in  1864  to  the  Alliance 
Isr.Universelle  of  Paris,  in  a  pamphlet  handed  to  Mr.  Narcisse 
Levin,  then  secretary  of  that  society,  whilst  the  late  Adolphe  Cre- 
mieux  was  its  venerated  president.  But  the  scheme  never  became 
flesh  and  bone,  it  never  matured  to  action.  My  French  pamphlet 
was  since  lost  by  the  "Archives  Israelites"  of  Paris.  Pity  for 
these  forty-five  years.  The  idea  never  was  acted  upon.  Territory 
should  have  been  acquired  of  the  United  States  government, 
which  then  would  have  been  cheerfully  granted;  just  on  the  same 
terms  as  to  other  newcomers.  No  extra  charter  was  necessary,  no 
special  stipulations,  no  autonomy  guarantees ;  simply  ground,  coun- 
try, citizenship  acquired  for  settlers,,  colonists,  immigrants;  then 
farms  at  a  small  outlay  erected  and  Jewish  exiles  settled  therein ;  a 
log-cabin,  with  an  enclosure, a  plough,  some  utensils,  cow  and  sheep 
bestowed  on  them,  on  easy  terms ;  thus  Jewish  colonization  estab- 
lished, and,  in  part,  non-Jewish,  too.  In  a  generation  or  less,  such 
Hebraic  settlers  being  in  the  majority,  would  form  a  state,  a  Ju- 
daean  federal  state  within  the  one  body  of  the  United  States  people. 
The  territory  of  a  Jewish  majority  would,  ipse  se,  form  a  state  with 
a  Jewish  majority,  a  New  Judaea,  still  an  integral  part  of  the  un- 
denominational United  States  of  North  America.  No  political 
intrigues  necessary,  no  religious  jealousies  aroused,  no  extra- 
charters  needed;  still  a  New- Judaea  created  as  natural  as  Mary- 
land, New  Haven  or  Rhode  Island.  This  would  settle  the  Jew- 
ish problem.  Establishing  such  a  New  Judaean  state  as  an  inte- 
gral part  of  the  unsectarian  United  States  of  North  America, 
would  best  and  easily  settle  this  vexed  Jewish  question  in  Europe 
and  in  the  world.  Hundreds  of  thousands  and  millions  of  Jews 
would  stay  there  where  they  are  now,  in  Europe,  Asia,  etc.  But 
the  Jewish  nationality  would  have  a  home,  a  country,  a  flag,  a  spot 
where  it  has  the  majority,  with,  most  logically,  its  governor,  rep- 
resentative power,  militia,  a  voice  in  Congress.  And  the  or- 
phanage, the  exile  of  the  patriarchal  people  would  be  at  an  end. 
North  America  would  gain  a  new  star  and  Europe  make  good 
the  wrong  of  a  thousand  years. 


257 


CLOSING  REMARKS. 

We  have  held  a  succinct  review  of  Israel's  history,  from  Moses 
and  the  Sinaic  epoch  to  Washington,  Roosevelt,  Taft.  For  thirty- 
five  centuries  this  is  going  on,  one  battle  ground  with  one  identical 
war-shout:  Israel  champions  the  Decalogue  and  never  surren- 
ders !  Now  mark !  In  spite  of  unparalleled,  harrowing  persecu- 
tions, he  did  not  die  and  did  not  surrender!  Why  so?  He  did 
not  die,  just  because  he  surrendered  not!  Had  he  yielded  he 
would  have  perished !  Whosover  gives  up  his  place  allotted  by 
Providence,  whosoever  shirks  his  duty,  loses  his  right  to  exist. 
Who  fails  in  his  historical  mission,  is  soon  supplanted  by  another 
more  fit  for  the  task.  While  he  who  is  right,  has  the  courage  of, 
and  insists  on  his  right,  he  who  performs  the  duty  corresponding 
to  the  right,  he  will  succeed.  This  is  the  universal  moral  law,  as 
sure  as  the  physical  law  of  gravitation. 

Several  serious  writers  have  recently  turned  their  attention  to 
this  "Jewish  question"  and  published  their  remarkable  replies. 
Their  conclusions  are  identical :  The  Jewish  people  may  count 
among  the  strongest  races  extant,  physically,  mentally,  indus- 
trially. They  have  been  proved  and  steeled  in  the  crucible  of  a 
long  continued,  arduous  battle  for  existence.  They  are  the  out- 
come of  natural  selection,  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  after  a  strug- 
gle of  three  and  one-half  millennia.  All  their  weaklings  have 
dropped  on  the  long,  rough  road.  Only  the  strongest  and 
ablest  have  remained.  And  this  remnant  is  tenacious,  holding  its 
own,  patient  and  persevering;  endowed  with  self-reliance,  moral 
courage,  self-sacrifice  and  will-power,  resourceful  in  shift  and  drift 
and  practical  shrewdness,  ready  thought  and  fancy,  enduring  and 
willing  of  work,  full  of  iniative ;  in  the  industries,  arts,  sciences,  lit- 
erature, statesmanship,  eloquence,  ideahty,  tempered  with  pru- 
dence, realism  and  sobriety ;  moreover,  they  are  endowed  with 
special,  racial  virtues,  of  their  own  acquisition,  and  with  partic- 
ular racial  defects  and  vices,  entailed,  yea,  forced  upon  them  by 
the  stress  of  long  adversity,  having  lived  for  two  thousands  years 
as  a  minority,  for  four  thousand  in  voluntary  isolation,  at  last  in 
malevolent  ostracism.  Contemplating  this  many-sided,  compli- 
cated historical  problem,  we  conclude  that  the  Hebraic  virtues  are 
to  stay  and  become  the  patrimony  of  mankind ;  whilst  their  vices, 


2S8  EXODUS,    MOSES   AND    THE    DECALOGUE. 

entailed  by  the  surroundings,  borrowed  from,  or  forced  upon 
them  by  their  enemies,  contracted  by  contagion — these  vices  they 
will  throw  off  with  the  improved  social  and  economical  circum- 
stances. Tempered  and  hardened  by  long  adversity,  millennial, 
cruel  and  malicious  persecution,  sharpened  by  experience  and 
trials,  tipheld  by  stern  principles,  a  noble  religious  doctrine,  tem- 
perate habits,  in  diet,  matrimony  and  mental  training,  inured  to 
diligence,  saving  and  prudence,  Israel  is  one  of  the  superior  races, 
undoubtedly  he  is  bound  to  succeed ;  and  anti-Semitism  must  and 
will  fail,  the  struggle  is  hard,  but  the  issue,  safe. 

But  we  must  not  omit  the  shades  in  the  picture.  Their  worst  draw- 
back is  a  misunderstanding  of  the  universal  laws.  Everything  is 
governed  by  cause  and  efifect,  not  miracles.  Follow  up  Israel's  his- 
tory and  you  will  find  they  often  attributed,  in  critical  moments, 
supernatural,  wrong  causes  to  national  events.  They  constructed 
the  world's  government  on  whimsical  grounds,  contrived  by  their 
own  fancy,  by  their  misled  and  misleading  leaders.  They  ever  ex- 
pected the  Deity,  arbitrarily  and  condescendingly,  to  interfere  on 
their  behalf  in  this  world's  logical  transactions,  instead  of  studying 
nature's  immutable,  wise  and  inexorable  laws,  no  doubt  the  best 
possible,  emanating  from  the  Supreme  Source  of  Wisdom  and 
fitness.  Instead  of  studying  and  coming  up  to  these  eternal,  di- 
vine laws,  Israel  came  before  the  Deity  with  his  bold  pretences 
and  prescribed  to  Omnipotence  what  to  do  or  to  omit,  praying 
that  for  his  sake  Providence  should  change  these  rules,  or,  at  least, 
a  while  suspend  them,  for  his  convenience,  and  offering  for  that 
a  puerile  consideration !  And  this  mode  of  thinking  and  con- 
structing the  universe  and  its  law-abiding  government  is  by  no 
means  Mosaic,  nor  rational,  nor  justified  by  daily  experience.  It 
is  a  remnant  of  paganism.  The  gods  were  in  man's  image  and  so 
their  ruling.  Prayer  and  victims  influenced  them  and  bent  their 
will.  The  Mosaic  Providence  is  law  personified.  Closely  looking, 
there  is  law,  wisdom,  necessary  causes  and  effects,  causes  bearing 
the  effects  in  their  lap.  Israel  in  many  of  his  historcial  crises  in- 
vented puerile  reasons  for  eternal,  stern  facts,  and  prayed  the 
Deity  to  make  2  plus  2  equal  to  5.  Hence  disappointment !  Instead 
of  living  up  to  law,  he  desired  laws  expressly  made  for  his  whims. 
Among  all  nations  short-sighted  or  crafty  priests  pretended  to  be 
able  to  bend  the  divine  will,  the  laws  of  nature,  and  the  blind 
masses  willingly  believed  it.    So  Judge  Jeptha  offered  his  daugh- 


CLOSING  REMARKS.  259 

ter  for  a  victory;  King  Mesha,  his  son;  the  priest  Kalchas  pre- 
vailed on  Agamemnon  to  sacrifice  Iphygenia.  When  Nebuchad- 
Nezzar  besieged  Jerusalem,  priests  and  courtiers  persuaded  im- 
potent Zedekia  to  resist :  God  will  interfere  by  a  miracle  in  his 
favor,  will  make  two  plus  two  equal  to  five.  Honest  Jeremiah  said : 
"No !  Submit  and  bear  the  yoke  until  better  times  will  come.  Pray 
for  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  Babylon,  for  your  prosperity  de- 
pends on  Babylon's !"  The  Greeks  were  indignant  at  the  Mace- 
donian yoke,  but  Phocion  advised  submission,  for  he  was  a  friend, 
not  a  flatterer  of  his  people.  In  a  great  crises  the  Romans  were 
chauvinistic,  and  expected  the  interference  of  the  Deity,  but  hon- 
est Cato  advised  not  simply  prayers  and  sacrifices  for  miraculous 
divine  help,  but  bravery,  self-sacrifice.  God  ever  helps  a  good 
cause,  but  he  helps  through  the  honest  efforts  of  the  party  fight- 
ing foi  redress.  Cowards  must  submit. ^  Judas  Maccabeus  and 
his  pious  and  brave  kinsmen  reckoned  upon  divine  assistance,  but 
to  come  through  their  own  brave  arms  and  prudence.^  God  surely 
helps  a  good  cause,  on  condition  that  men  fight  for  that  good 
cause.  The  Jewish  people  expect  miracles  and  remain  passive. 
Here  is  the  trouble,  here  the  mistake  and  its  results ! 

Other  kindred  features  are  superstition,  racial  vanity,  dreams 
of  self-importance,  Groesscn-Walin,  over-bearing  in  his  very  rags, 
sneering  at  the  fortress  and  the  palace  from  the  Ghetto-garret- 
window,  holding  to  forms  belonging  to  the  past  and  deeming  of 
sacred  importance  what  is  but  an  old-time  drapery.  Such  frailties 
render  Jews  unamiable,  anti-social,  vainglorious,  puerile  and  ob- 
stinate ;  to  the  unthinking  even  ridiculous  and  hateful.  It  is  not 
their  rational  doctrines  and  their  pure  morality,  the  essence  of 
Judaism,  which  harms  them,  but  the  antiquated  forms  and  anti- 
social manners  of  the  mediaeval  Ghetto-Jew  which  rendered  him 
odious  to  the  masses. 

Still,  closely,  psychologically  considered,  are  not  all  their  faults, 
defects,  vices  even,  of  a  heroic  origin  and  character?.  ..At  any 
rate,  these  many  weak  points  and  idle  peculiarities,  they  have 
contracted  in  the  long  diaspora ;  and  they  are  fast  ridding  them- 
selves of  such,  as  fast  as  they  find  a  home  with  rights,  as  snon  as 


iCato  the  Elder,  in  a  great  Roman  crisis.  See  Titi  Livii,  Histor. 
Libri. 

2A  daily  experience  recognized  by  Mathatias  and  his  sons,  but  not 
by  their  later  successors  of  the  Judaco-Roman  war;  as  little  as  by  the 
Zionists  of  to-day. 


26o  EXODUS,   MOSES   AND   THE   DECALOGUE. 

their  social  and  economical  circumstances  improve.  The  alluded- 
to  vices  and  defects  were  entailed  upon  them  by  their  Pharaohs, 
Hamans,  Ignatieffs,  whilst  the  old-time  obstinacy,  race  vanity, 
stickling,  etc.,  were  their  strong  tortoise-shell  against  the  arms, 
stones  and  darts  of  two  thousand  years'  cruel  persecutions.  The  ex- 
uberant rites,  observances  and  ceremonies,  the  notions  of  supe- 
riority and  over-sanctimoniousness  were  their  thick  furs  and 
warm  waddings  during  the  long,  chilly,  social  winters.  They  set 
up  superstition  against  worse  superstition,  racial  pride  against 
overbearing  racial  hate ;  contempt  against  derision,  belittling,  pil- 
lage and  exile,  the  only  arms  of  the  meek  and  weak  against  the 
harsh  and  strong,  of  the  victim  against  the  oppressor. 

In  this  long  and  arduous  battle  of  the  Decalogue  and  its  polity 
of  purity,  justice  and  reason,  against  the  polytheistic  world  and 
its  polity  of  brute  force  and  coarse  sensuality,  I  count  even  more 
upon  moral  factors,  than  upon  ethnical  and  physiological  ones. 
The  Jew  will  come  out  as  victor  over  anti-Semitism,  because  man- 
kind is  silently  and  instinctively  his  active  ally  in  that  war ;  because 
mankind's  interests  incline  thereat,  yea,  peremptorily  demand  it; 
because  monotheism  and  the  Ten  Words  are  mankind's  Organic 
Law,  are  the  safest  foundation  for  the  rights  and  duties  of  in- 
telligent beings.  The  Jew  fights  for  mankind's  rights  and  true 
interests,  and  mankind  is  bound  at  last  to  find  that  out  and  come 
to  his  assistance.  The  Decalogue  is  the  only  possible  platform 
for  democracy,  universal  peace,  freedom  and  justice.  The  He- 
braic prophets  were  the  first  tribunes  of  the  people.  They  first 
advocated  the  people's  social  position;  its  interests,  human  dig- 
nity and  possible  developments,  against  prince,  noble  and  soldier. 
At  all  times  lordly  egoism  relying  upon  the  ignorance  of  the 
masses,  combined  against  the  people  and  its  champions,  the  Jews. 

Montesquieu  (Grandeur  et  decadence  des  Romains,  Chap.  XV) 
correctly  remarks :  "The  common  people  of  Rome  hated  not, 
even,  the  worst  emperors.  Since  they  had  lost  their  once  political 
importance  and  were  no  longer  occupied  with  war-making,  that 
plebs  became  the  vilest  of  all  people.  It  considered  commerce 
and  arts  as  things  becoming  slaves,  and  the  distributions  of  bread- 
stuffs  made  it  neglect  even  agriculture."  Even  so  nobles  and 
mob  combined  against  Jews  during  the  long,  dark  Middle  Ages, 
not  appreciating  his  labors.  Now  the  nations  need  but  more  edu- 
cation to  realize  the  grave  import  of  the  Hebraic  platform,  iden- 


CLOSING  REMARKS.  261 

tical  with  the  old  prophetical  one.  With  a  better  understanding 
of  the  Great-Charter  formulated  by  the  "peculiar  people,"  the 
nations  will  recognize,  adopt  and  make  it  theirs.  In  one  word, 
the  victory  of  Israel  is  the  triumph  of  the  people,  of  democracy 
and  the  masses  against  privilege;  therefore  anti-Semitism  will 
yield.  The  Decalogue  is  the  great  charter,  mankind's  Bill  of 
Rights  of  universal  peace,  of  education,  of  bodily,  mental  and 
economic  betterment.  So  the  late  French  statesman  and  writer, 
St.  Hillaire,  expressed  it  tersely:  "Anti-Semitism  is  a  folly. 
Should  the  Jews  succumb  and  yield,  that  would  be  the  greatest 
misfortune  that  ever  befell  mankind." 

Contemplating  the  lurid  horizon  of  the  present,  yea  of  the  last 
half-century  of  the  world's  history,  the  philanthropist  staggers  in 
his  hopefulness  and  is  nigh  despairing  of  human  betterment. 
Such  a  well-balanced  thinker  as  Professor  A.  H.  Sayce,  of  Oxford 
and  Cairo,  after  a  long  and  glorious  career  of  scientific  labors, 
experiences  and  travel,  recently  replied  to  my  remark:  Whether 
our  men  of  science  should  not  join  their  efforts  to  those  advo- 
cating the  problem  of  the  Hague  arbitration  commission :  "I  am 
afraid,  men  will  fight  as  long  as  human  history  will  last."  Still 
let  us  not  give  up  the  cheering  hope  that  gradually  common 
sense,  universal  education,  the  salient  interests  of  all,  plain  jus- 
tice and  calm  wisdom  will  finally  succeed  and  eliminate  inter- 
national war,  racial  prejudice  and  religious  fanaticism. 

THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE. 

I  said :  Israel's  doctrine,  monotheism  and  the  Ten  Words  are 
mankind's  platform.  It  upholds  democracy,  peace,  universal  edu- 
cation, work  and  bread  for  all.  It  postulates  and  guarantees  the 
same  burdens  and  emoluments  to  each  and  all,  "life,  liberty  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness"  in  the  reach  of  all.  Its  creed  embodies 
the  universal  fatherhood  of  God  and  men's  universal  brother- 
hood, the  harmonious  co-working  of  individuals  and  nations,  the 
unity  of  the  human  race,  their  bodily  and  spiritual  affinity  and 
their  identical  interests.  And  this  platform  substantiates  the 
same  rights  and  duties  for  all  intelligent  beings :  No  discrimina- 
tion against  sex,  creed,  or  country;  no  domineering  classes  and 
subject  masses;  no  noble-born  and  pariahs;  but  all  free  and  equal, 


262  EXODUS,    MOSES   AND   THE    DECALOGUE. 

all  learning,  thinking,  toiling  and  enjoying  the  fruit  of  their  labors. 
Hence  no  polygamy  and  no  pariah-races ;  no  disfranchisement  of 
the  public  vote,  the  government  for  and  by  the  people  and  every 
right  corresponding  to  a  duty.  Hence  a  free  state,  a  free  Church, 
a  free  conscience,  a  free  farm  to  each  family,  free  speech  and  free 
press.  Hence  education,  chances,  bread,  and  unchequered  devel- 
opment for  all.  This  is  Israel's  program ;  this  is  implied  in  the 
economical  and  social  phases  of  monotheism  and  the  Decalogue ; 
this  is  their  logical  and  necessary  sequence  and  outcome,  saliently 
held  forth  again  and  again,  on  every  page  of  the  Pentateuch  and 
the  Prophets. 

Nor  does  the  Talmud  and  Moralists  militate  against  this.  The 
rabbis  multiplied  the  observances  and  ceremonials,  simply  as 
means  and  handles,  or  as  so  many  arms  of  defence  against  the 
then  prevailing,  fierce  antagonism.  Such  accumulation  of  sym- 
bols and  religious  practices  were  the  coat  of  mail  against  the 
darts  bristling  around  the  Hebrew ;  to  screen  him  against  subju- 
gation and  absorption.  Isolated  and  lonely  in  that  desert,  his 
inimical  surroundings,  he  was  to  be  protected  by  this  tortoise- 
shell.  And  with  him  was  to  be  preserved  his  saving  doctrine. 
By  these  multiplied  rites  the  Talmud  preserved  both  the  body 
and  the  soul,  the  Jew  and  the  Decalogue ;  both  indispensably  nec- 
essary for  mankind's  bodily,  ethical,  social  and  economical  gradual 
reconstruction. 

Mark  it  well :  That  broad  liberalism  of  the  Pentateuch  is  fully 
reflected  and  embodied  in  the  lofty  moral  and  social  teachings  of 
the  rabbis,  whenever  they  were  not  dimmed  and  marred  by  cruel 
provocations.  These,  naturally,  induced  counter-measures,  rigor- 
ism, new  precautions  and  hedges  in  their  distress,  harsh,  tempo- 
rary enactments,  in  dire  self-defense  (horaath  Shaah). 

And  that  platform  of  monotheism  and  the  Decalogue  is  the 
aspiration  of  present-day  democracy.  True  democracy  and  pro- 
phetism  are  identical.  Both  are  champions  of  the  Ten  Words, 
with  their  expoundings  in  Leviticus  XIX  and  the  entire  five 
Books  of  Moses.  Both  embody  the  Mosaic  man  and  state  con- 
cept, the  Biblical  right  and  justice  scheme,  with  their  civil,  politi- 
cal, agrarian  and  economical  institutions.  All  these  point  to- 
wards one  Supreme  Rule,  one  human  race,  one  right  and  one 
duty  to  be  realized  in  the  future  society. 


THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  THE  DECALOGUE.  263 

Even  this  is  the  ideal  sketched  by  Isaiah  II.  and  Micha  IV:  It 
shall  come  to  pass  in  the  far-off  future  when  the  Mount  of  Ihvh 
Vv'ill  tower  high  above  all  the  mounts  and  all  the  nations  will 
hasten  thereto,  saying  let  us  go  there  and  learn  of  His  ways ...  for 
God  will  arbitrate  between  nations .  . .  and  they  will  change  their 
swords  into  pruning  hooks  and  no  longer  wage  war  against  each 
other .  .  .  Even  the  non-Jews  associating  themselves  with  the  Divine 
Name,  will  be  admitted  to  this  holy  mount  and  their  prayers  be 
accepted,  for  My  house  shall  be  the  house  of  prayer  for  all  the 
nations.".  .  .Here  is  the  programme  of  the  new  democracy,  so- 
ciety, humanity,  the  United  States  of  the  world.  This  is  the 
Mosaic  doctrine  and  its  political  ideal.  It  is,  essentially,  the  back- 
bone of  Christianity,  its  "kingdom  of  heaven  on  earth."  It  is 
the  aim  and  object  of  all  true  religion.  Modern  democracy  is 
the  essence  and  the  goal  of  the  commonwealths  of  this  American 
continent.  Is  is  the  child  of  the  Biblical  man  and  State  theory. 
What  the  seers  of  Judaea  have  dreamed  and  schemed,  what  they 
have  aspired  at  and  labored,  lived  and  died  for,  that  mankind  is 
pledged  to  realize  and  embody.  The  United  States'  social  scheme 
is  the  first  to  clothe  with  flesh  and  bone  the  visions  of  the  Judaean 
tribunes,  since  Moses  and  Samuel  to  Moses  Mendelssohn  and 
Lasalle.  The  Washingtons,  Franklins,  Lincolns,  Garfields,  Cleve- 
lands  are  the  echoes,  the  connecting  links  between  us  and  the 
aspirations  of  Sinai,  Karmel,  Moriah.  The  United  States  is  bound 
to  take  its  stand  upon  holy  ground.  Our  star-spangled  banner, 
waving  over  eighty  millions  of  free  and  equal  citizens,  is  inscribed 
with  the  Ten  Words,  mankind's  Great  Charter  from  Sinai.  It  is 
proclaiming  to  the  world.  One  Ruler,  one  mankmd,  one  Right 
and  one  Duty  for  all.  Right  shall,  alone  and  finally,  be  might. 
From  Moses  to  Washington,  from  Horeb  to  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, from  Monotheism  to  Democracy,  there  is  going  on  but  one 
continuous  elaboration  of  one  string  of  principles.  And  these 
principles  must  and  finally  will  be  victorious,  right  alone  must  be 
might  and  no  surrender ! 


264 

IX  Study.— THE  MOSAIC  SANCTUARY. 

"Let  them  make  me  a  sanctuary,  that  I  may  dwell  among  them." 
(Exod.  25,  8.) 

Retrospect. 

In  the  preceding  studies  and  chapters  we  have  considered  the 
people  of  Israel,  leaving  Egypt  and  acquiring  their  personal  free- 
dom and  national  independence ;  then  leaving  ignorance  and  its 
accompanying  idolatry — since,  at  all  times,  the  ignorant  were 
sinful  and  idol-worshippers^ — they  became  the  recipients,  in  the 
grand  Arabian  ntmosphere  of  Sinai,  of  the  Ten  Commandments, 
the  solid  basis  and  foundation  of  their  everlasting  spiritual  nation- 
ality. Elsewhere  (in  Spirit  of  the  Biblical  Legislation)  we  have 
considered  the  Mosaic  Laws,  the  necessary  and  logical  develop- 
ments and  the  complement  of  the  principles  of  the  Decalogue, 
elaborated  in  II.  M  22  and  2;^,  into  a  civil,  political  and  social 
Code,  for  the  government  of  the  primitive  Hebraic  Common- 
wealth. We  have  seen  that  a  close  comparison  between  that  leg- 
islation and  the  most  renowned  ones  among  other  nations,  shows 
the  decided  superiority  of  the  first  over  the  latter  ones;  that  the 
freedom  of  the  individual  man,  the  position  of  the  woman,  the 
human  dignity,  the  strict  equality  of  the  different  members  of  the 
community  and  the  independence  of  the  nation,  were  firmly 
secured  and  grounded,  standing  on  and  moored  in  the  immovable 
rock  of  the  equal  distribution  of  the  national  wealth,  man's  civil 
and  political  equality  ever  going  hand  in  hand  with  his  economic 
one^  and  indispensably  necessary.  We  have  seen,  moreover,  that 
this  paramount  foundation  of  equality,  spiritual,  civil,  political 
and  economic,  was  at  the  very  start  guaranteed  by  the  Mosaic 
Code,  there  more  emphasized  and  accentuated  than  by  any  other 
ancient  one. 

And  equally  superior  are  the  Mosaic  Benevolence  and  Charity 
laws  with  their  humanitarian  institutions,  treated  in  another  vol- 
ume.3     Our  sympathetic  duties  towards  the  poor,  the  stranger, 


Nton  x-i"  "113  pNi  n^nn  ]'-)xn  nv  i^b  ^ 

2In  Greece  and  Rome  this  parallel  was  neglected,  hence  the  eternal 
friction  and  final  collapse  of  the  republic. 
'Humanity  and  Benerolence  in  Pentateuch 


THE  MOSAIC  SANCTUARY.  265 

the  debtor,  the  criminal,  especially  towards  the  Levites,  the 
widows  and  orphans,  even  our  feelings  of  solidarity  and  benevo- 
lent pity  towards  our  suffering  fellow-creatures,  with  all  their 
enactments,  are  undoubtedly  superior  to  analogous  provisions  of 
any  of  the  ancient  and  even  of  the  modern  religious  and  political 
systems. 

Nowhere  in  other  legislative  Codes  do  we  find  so  emphatically 
and  unflinchingly  stated :  that  the  land  belongs  to  none,  finally, 
but  alone  to  God ;  that  He  has  lent  it  to  the  citizens,  to  all  the  citi- 
zens alike,  to  be  distributed,  squarely,  by  equal  shares,  and  by  lot, 
among  the  adult  communal  males,  for  the  maintenance  of  their 
respective  families,  never  to  be  alienated,  ever  to  remain  as  the 
patrimonial  heirloom,  from  father  to  son  and  their  posterity  so 
as  to  insure  their  future  well  being,  and  possibly  altogether  to 
avoid  pauperism  and  plutocracy,  enslavement  and  lordism,  buying 
and  selling  of  power  and  dominion,  the  great  social  and  moral 
stumbling  blocks  of  all  times  and  all  countries,  which,  to  this  day, 
are  the  Scylla  dnd  Charybdis,  the  threatening  Damocles'  sword 
overhanging  civilized  society,  termed  the  social  problem,  and 
more  than  any  thing  else,  engrossing  the  attention  of  wise  states- 
men, economists,  philanthropists. ^ 

All  this  proves  conclusively,  that  Mosaism,  though  undoubtedly 
originating  in  a  tribe,  a  nationality,  a  sect,  and  specially  enacted 
for  a  certain  race  and  country,  nevertheless  is  fully  capable,  in  its 
leading  features,  its  dominant  principles,  of  becoming  a  universaj 
polity,  a  platform  for  civilized  mankind  at  large.  Considered 
from  the  highest  standpoint,  we  see  that  the  spirit  of  the  uni- 
versal religion,  the  Spirit  of  God,^  really  and  literally,  has  dictated 
that  Mosaic  Code.  For  all  human  laws  emanate  from  and  are 
dependent  upon  time  country  and  environments ;  whilst  laws  that 
are  eternal  and  universal,  fit  for  all  circumstances,  can  surely 
claim  as  their  source,  the  highest  authority.  Divine  Wisdom  itself. 

THE  SANCTUARY,  TABERNACLE,  FORM,  OUTFIT. 

In  our  Scriptural  chapter  now  contemplated,  a  new  set  of 
laws  is  elaborately  displayed  to  our  gaze  and  our  meditation.  The 
great  theme  here  before  us,  is :  "They  shall  make  unto  Me  a  sanc- 
tuary that  I  may  dwell  in  their  midst."     (II  M.  35,  7.^     After 


iSee  Biblical  Legislation,  III,  80. 

K'Tipn  nil » 


266  EXODUS,    MOSES   AND   THE    DECALOGUE. 

Israel  had  conquered  his  freedom,  acquired  his  nucleus  of  civil 
and  moral  laws  and,  spiritualized  by  the  Sinaic  revelation,  had 
risen  to  a  high  ethical  level,  an  opportunity  was  offered  to  him 
for  keeping  up  a  constant  communion  with  the  Divine,  a  Sanc- 
tuary for  the  Shechina  became  thus  necessary,  a  place  where  the 
Israelite  could  ever  and  always  find  the  Deity  in  his  reach,  a 
tabernacle  where  the  Divine  could  ever  meet  the  human  and 
sanctify  it.  Hence  our  theme,  "Ye  shall  construct  for  Me  a  sanc- 
tuary that  I  may  reside  among  you." 

Kind  Reader !  This  present  chapter  is  necessarily  suggested  in 
this  place,  by  our  survey  of  the  book  of  Exodus,  of  which  it 
is  an  important  part,  occupying  chapters  25-40.  The  many 
practical,  realistic,  historical  problems  of  the  preceding  pages 
will  rarely  occur  here.  It  is  a  theoretical  study  of  the  highest 
import,  embracing  man's  moral  and  intellectual  phases,  and 
dealing  with  the  divine  in  our  bosom.  For  the  thoughtful  it  will 
form  a  welcome  contrast,  a  change  of  theme  and,  for  that  very 
reason,  a  suitable  climax  to  the  various  subjects  treated  in  this 
volume.  Our  present  theme  is:  "Ye  shall  erect  a  Sanctuary 
that  God  may  dwell  among  you." 

DO  MEN  NEED  ONE? 

Do  we  need  a  sanctuary  to  meet  God  ?  We  answer :  True,  the 
Godhead  tolerates  no  limitation,  He  is  everywhere ;  His  residence 
can  not  be  localized.  No  doubt,  there  are  great  moments  in  the 
career  of  man,  of  transcendent  individuals  and  of  nations,  there 
are  indeed  great  and  extraordinary  opportunities,  when  puny, 
dust-born  man  rises  to  the  Diety,  at  one  single  bound ;  when  he 
overleaps  in  one  salto  mortale  the  immeasurable  gap  between 
earth  and  heaven,  matter  and  spirit,  the  human  and  the  divine; 
when  our  finite  being  widens  and  grows  and  merges  with  this 
vast  world  around  us ;  when  we,  poor  mortals,  take  up  the 
Infinite  into  our  narrow  bosom ;  when  we,  atom  of  dust,  become 
identified  with  the  universe.  Such  an  important  moment  is  when, 
after  long  laboring  under  deadly  disease,  the  reconvalescent  feels 
again  life  and  health  buoyantly  welling  in  his  bosom.  Such  a 
moment  is  when,  after  an  oppressive  consciousness  of  the  dreari- 
ness of  human  existence,  we  for  once  listen  to  the  heavenly  voice 
of  true,  genuine  and  unselfish  sympathy.  Such  a  moment  is 
when  suddenly  a  revelation  dawns  upon  us  that  we  live,  bear,  and 


DO  MEN  NEED  ONE?  267 

labor  for  a  great,  immortal  cause.  Such  is  when,  standing  at  the 
death-bed  of  a  dear  parent  bidding  us  an  eternal  good-bye !  Such 
is  when  listening  distinctly  from  the  rosy  lips  of  our  dear,  sweet 
baby  stammering-  out :  Papa  !  Mammia  !  Such  a  shattering  and 
elevating  moment  we  witness  when,  from  the  height  of  human 
prosperity,  we  tumble  down  into  the  depth  of  misfortune — yet 
hear  our  strong,  manly  conscience  whispering :  Courage  !  Quiet  I 
All  is  lost ;  but  honor  remains,  thy  human  dignity  is  safe  \^  Such 
is  when  after  long  and  dreary  years  of  intense  struggle  with 
opponents,  we  at  last  stand  triumphant — without  loss  of  self- 
respect,  and  the  rare  lesson  as  clear  outcome :  Honesty  is  the 
best  policy !  Rising  now  to  higher  historical  planes,  such  a 
moment  is  at  hand,  when  a  nation,  bleeding,  in  the  deathly  throes 
of  tyranny,  conquers  in  a  desperate  effort  her  inalienable  rights, 
her  freedom.  Such  a  moment  dawns  upon  the  horizon  when 
humanity,  feeling  the  urgency  of  mental  and  moral  regeneration, 
after  a  long  and  bitter  struggle,  conquers  a  higher  religious  or 
social  polity.  Such  a  great  moment  was  that  of  Israel  at  his  lib- 
eration from  Pharaoh.  Such  was  that  when  the  Roman  world 
embracing  the  chaste  Moriah  doctrine  ejected  the  sensuality  of 
Olympus.  Or  that  of  the  Germans  upon  the  call  of  Luther,  Zwingli, 
Calvin ;  or  when  our  thirteen  colonies  arose  at  the  call  of  Frank- 
lin and  his  friends ;  or  when  Europe  felt  thrilled  at  the  sound  of 
the  Marseillaise.  At  such  great  epochs,  in  such  supreme  crises, 
such  historical  upheavals,  of  intense  efforts,  rare  and  unique  turn- 
points  in  the  life  of  great  individuals  and  of  historical  nations, 
then  man  at  once  rises  to  God.  Then  we  witness  a  great  revela- 
tion in  our  soul,  our  own  Sinai.  Then  we  need  no  Sanctuary  of 
stone.  Then  heaven's  great  dome  is  our  most  suitable  Temple ; 
then  Deity  is  revealed  to  our  minds  in  her  brightest  majesty.  God 
is  then  in  direct  communion  with  man.  At  such  upheavals  human 
nature  is  taken  out  of  its  hinges,  our  terrestrial  self  becomes  di- 
vine. We  need  no  longer  any  crutches  to  raise  us  to  heaven.  We 
need  no  man-made  sanctuary,  no  ceremonies,  rites  or  symbols.  Mat- 
ter drops  at  our  feet.  We  are  in  the  immediate  presence  of  the 
Shechina. 

But  such  moments,  alas,  are  rare  and  short.    As  the  quick  flash 
and  blast  of  the  lightning,  they  toss  us  out  of  our  accustomed 


i"Tout  est  perdu  sauf  I'honneur."     (At  battle  of  Pavia.) 


268  EXODUS,   MOSES   AND   THE   DECALOGUE. 

sphere.  But  soon  the  relapse  comes,  a  terrible  fall,  as  the  story 
of  the  Gigantes,  from  heaven  to  earth.  Then  we  again  become 
aware  of  our  finiteness.  We  feel  again  miserably  dragged  down 
to  our  level  on  earth.  We  are  then  the  more  exhausted,  the 
greater  the  effort  had  been.  Our  wings  are  the  more  plucked 
and  curtailed,  the  loftier  our  previous  flights.  We  recognize  that 
we  are  earthly  mortals,  that  we  cannot  spare  the  human  crutches, 
that  traditional  religious  ladder  to  attain  at  the  spiritual  and 
reach  the  divine.  We  learn  that  we  need  a  special  place,  a 
shrine,  hymn,  ritual  for  communion  and  worship.  We  need  a 
temple,  emblems,  holidays,  set-prayers,  rites,  observances,  sym- 
bols. And  this  is  the  sense  and  scope  of  our  theme :  "Ye  shall 
make  Me  a  sanctuary  that  I  rest  in  your  midst." 

No  doubt,  Heaven's  high  arch  is  the  fittest  dome  for  worship- 
ping the  Master  of  the  Universe ;  the  starry  constellations  above 
are  the  grandest  choir;  the  sun  rising  and  setting,  is  the  sub- 
limest  hymn.  The  prospect  from  Mount  Sinai,  or  even  Mount 
Blanc,  or  the  Rocky  Mountains,  or  the  Niagara  falls,  upon  limitless 
space,  inspires  us  with  the  grandest  concepts  and  feelings  of  ado- 
ration for  the  mysterious  Builder  of  all  existence.  But  consider- 
ing calmly,  with  our  eyes  open,  and  with  our  hands  on  our  heart : 
How  often  has  neaven's  majestic  dome  inspired  us  with  devotion? 
The  daily  wonders  of  nature  tune  and  fill  the  beholder  with  awe 
and  admiration.  But  he  mostly  lacks  the  disposition  of  mind  to 
realize  their  spiritual  incentives.  It  is  only  when  secluded  from  the 
deafening  turmoil  of  the  world,  with  its  strivings,  passions  and 
warfares.  It  is  only  when  in  the  Temple,  crowded  with  worship- 
pers, blazing  with  symbols,  ringing  with  prayers  and  hymns,  that 
we  become  aware  of  our  Divine  Master.  There,  the  lofty,  stern 
walls,  the  venerable  Shrine,  the  solemn  choir  and  hymns,  the  Ark 
with  the  Law-scrolls,  the  numerous  worshippers,  these  direct  to 
and  concentrate  our  attention  upon  spiritual  things.  The  peals 
of  the  organ  and  the  still  murmur  of  the  devout,  awaken  us  to  the 
absolute  fact  that  there  is  within  the  deep  recesses  of  our  soul  a 
half-veiled  mystic  world  connecting  us  with  the  great  World- 
Mystery.  Organ,  hymn  and  cult  loudly  re-echo  and  reverberate 
in  our  well-tuned  mind.  The  solemn  sentences  of  confession, 
prayer,  scripture,  impress  us ;  all  that,  participated  in  by  so  many 
coreligionists,  friends  and  relatives,  illustrates  to  us  the  solemn 
inscriptions  in  sacred  characters,  looking  down  upon  us   from 


DO  MEN  NEED  ONE^  269 

the  sacred  Temple  walls :  "Know  before  whom  thou  standest ! 
Know  thou  art  in  presence  of  the  King  of  Kings,  the  Only  One ! 
They  shall  erect  for  Me  a  sanctuary  that  I  may  dwell  among 
them." 

Even  so,  with  ancient  Israel  and  our  subject-matter,  after  the 
trying  effort  of  the  Exodus,  the  passing  of  the  Red  Sea,^  the  over- 
throw of  the  Egyptian  pursuers,  the  promulgation  of  the  Sinaic 
Organic  Law,  after  so  many  extraordinary  occasions  where  they 
had  seen  Providence  "eye  to  eye,"  in  fulfillment  of  the  traditional 
covenant  with  the  Patriarchs — they  now  returned  to  the  common 
level  of  human  existence.  And  now  they  found  out  that  they 
needed  the  earthly  means  of  communion  with  the  divine.  Hence 
the  behest :  "They  shall  make  Ale  a  sanctuary  that  I  dwell  among 
them."  Therefore,  the  human  helps  for  securing  divine  contact. 
God  is  omnipresent,  "full  of  His  glory  is  the  universe,"  but  for 
distracted,  dissipated,  passion-bound  man  he  is  in  the  house  of 
prayer.  Therefore  the  importance  of  securing  a  place  for  wor- 
ship, for  perpetual  revelations,  a  permanent  Sinai.  Therefore  the 
Mishkan,  Tabernacle,  not  a  Sinai  which  was  irremovable  and 
fixed  in  far-off  Arabia,  but  a  Temple  that  would  wander  with 
them  about  in  the  desert,  follow  them  to  Palestine,  later 
accompany  them  from  age  to  age,  from  country  to  country, 
through  all  their  vicissitudes,  to  all  the  habitable  regions  of  the 
globe,  Babylon,  Africa,  Europe  and  America.  Such  a  Tabernacle 
became  necessary  and  that  is  our  theme,  its  import  and  occasion. 

Our  Agadists  were  fond  of,  yea  enthusiastic  over  this  theme  and 
brought  out  many  tender  and  exquisite  parables  on  this  occasion, 
ingeniously  and  poetically  illustrating  the  idea  that  civilized  Laws 
and  institutions  are  ever  the  outcome  of  Supreme  Wisdom,  that 
the  Thora  is  identical  with  Divine  Intelligence,  God's  first-born 
child."2  "I  have  presented  you  with  the  Law,  God  said.  So 
my  divine  Self  goes  with  it."  Once  upon  a  time  a  king  had  an 
only  daughter,  whom  he  loved  above  every  thing.  When  she 
blossomed  up  into  graceful  maidenhood,  he  promised  her  hand 
to  a  noble  prince  who  had  wooed  for  her.  When  the  day  of  mar- 
riage approached  and  the  prince  came  to  take  her  to  her  new 


iSo-called;     biblical    Yam-Suph,  the  Bullrush-sea,  perhaps  the  Lake 
Sirbonis,  according  to   Bruggsh-Bey. 

^!5d:)  ^B'O...  noy  ^mDOJ  !?iDnD  .n-nnn    nx  a^b  ^mao  r]'2"r)"ri  nox « 


270  EXODUS,    MOSES   AND   THE    DECALOGUE. 

home,  the  royal  father  said:  Give  her  away  to  you  I  cannot,  for 
my  heart  yearns  for  her ;  refuse  her  to  you,  I  can  not,  either,  she 
is  your  lawful  wife.  What  then  is  to  be  done?  Well,  let  me 
make  you  this  proposition,  it  is  the  best  compromise,  and  I  hope 
you  will  accept  it,  viz :  Wherever  you  go  with  her,  there  prepare 
for  me  a  room  in  your  palace  and  then  she  will  be  with  you  and 
still  with  me,  too.  — Even  so,  after  the  Deity  had  vouchsafed  to 
man  the  Thora,  he  said:  "Prepare  for  Me  a  sanctuary  that  I 
abide  with  you  near  her." 

And  this  fine  parable  is  ethically  true,  later  often  repeated  by 
many  moral  and  pohtical  thinkers.  Indeed,  order,  hanriony,  law, 
justice,  peace  are  among  the  great  attributes  of  the  Godhead.  Rea- 
son, truth,  equity,  sympathy,  eternal  fitness  and  benevolence 
emanate  from  Him.  Hence,  wherever  the  Law  abides,  also  rea- 
son, truth,  goodness  dwell — there  God  resides,  without  fail,  God 
the  embodiment  of  everything-  good  and  great  and  true. 

Our  Sages  make  here  another  pointed  remark :  Previous  to 
Israel's  receiving  the  Thora  in  the  Sinaic  atmosphere,  we  read 
repeatedly  and  variously  (II  M.  24),  "Moses  went  up  to  God," 
after  its  deliverance,  the  divine  behest  is :  "Make  Me  a  sanctuary 
that  I  may  dwell  among  you,"  viz :  At  first  man  rises  to  the 
divine  Mind,  next  God  descends  to  the  Temple  made  by  man. 
At  all  the  great  historical  epochs  which  mark  the  advance  of  cul- 
ture, when  one  chapter  closes  and  another  opens  in  the  annals 
of  mankind,  when  a  new,  higher  phase  of  human  civilization 
makes  its  appearance,  then  the  tremendous  abyss  of  social  anar- 
chy rocks  and  travails,  bringing  forth  in  its  throes  a  new  order  of 
things,  the  newly  discovered  continents  for  striving  humanity. 
Great  teachers,  initiators,  extraordinary  geniuses  arise  from 
among  the  people,  with  new  ideas,  impulses  and  methods ;  they 
rise  to  the  Deity,  the  source  of  all  Law  and  civilization.  Thence 
they  bring  down  the  germ  of  new  endeavors  into  our  human 
sphere :  They  receive  the  Thora  on  the  divine  Mount^  and  hand 
it  down  as  the  much-needed  panacea  for  man's  troubles,  as  the 
soothing  oil  for  the  sea  of  human  passion.  At  once  peace,  order 
and  justice  are  established;  God  again  resides  among  men,  society 
is  satisfied  and  feels  to  rest  on  the  firm  basis  of  reason,  sympathy 
and  fitness. 


1      ni-.n   no  on  the  D'^nSxn  in  ah  the  great  lawgivers  had  their 

sacred  mounts.     Politicians  and  magicians  work  in  caves.     Initiators 
and  prophets  have  their  divine  mounts. 


271 


THE  IMPORT  OF  TABERNACLE  AND  TEMPLE. 

The  second  Book  of  Moses  principally  treats  of  three  subjects: 
The  Exodus  from  Egpyt,  the  Ten  Words  with  the  gradually  de- 
veloped Mosaic  legislation,  and  the  creation  of  the  national  Tem- 
ple, a  Tabernacle,  a  portable  sanctuary  where  the  Benai-Israel 
were  to  meet  with  God,  worship  Him  and  receive  continued  inspi- 
ration, guidance  and  behests.  The  Tabernacle  and  its  minute 
description  occupies  nearly  thirteen  chapters  of  H.  Moses,  giving 
all  the  details  about  its  site,  construction,  dimensions,  materials, 
shape,  outfit,  vessels,  offerings,  cult,  priesthood,  vestments,  altars, 
compartments,  functions  in  their  special  details  and  particularities. 
Later  on,  we  shall  see  wherefore  was  all  that  circumstantiality. 
Here  we  premise  only  that  in  the  sacred  books  of  India,  Baby- 
lonia, Assyria,  Egypt,  we  find  no  less  attention  paid  to  the  great 
national  sanctuaries  there.  In  fact,  the  recently  discovered  liter- 
atures of  the  Old  World,  show  that  in  prehistoric  times,  the  state 
clustered  around  the  church,  the  church  being  the  center  an4 
nucleus  of  the  State,  and  the  priesthood,  the  marrow  and  nucleus 
of  the  people.  Theocracy  was  the  form  of  government.  The 
Temple  was  the  heart,  the  corner-stone,  the  soul  of  the  nation. 
Hence  its  paramount  importance.  Not  soldiers  and  kings,  not 
Nimrods,  but  Gudea,  Malki-Zedek,  Abraham,  Moses,  men  of 
brain  and  religion,  not  of  war  and  conquest,  established  cr'-ipires 
and  peoples.  Let  us  now  have  a  closer  survey  of  the  import  of 
Israel's  first  national  Temple  here  described. 

Many  have  asked :  Why  should  the  erection  of  a  house  of  wor- 
ship find  so  much  space  and  attention  in  the  history  and  the  Code 
of  Mosaism?  Why  are  therein  given  such  minute  descriptions  of 
the  numerous  and  various  vessels,  materials,  arrangements  and 
forms  of  that  edifice?  We  have  alluded  to  similar  descriptions 
elsewhere.  Looking  into  the  voluminous  expoundings  of  our  own 
pious  commentators,  we  find  there  many  whimsical  and  curious 
answers  to  our  query,  all  of  a  mysterious  nature,  hinting  that 
the  Tabernacle,  Tent  of  Appointment,  Sacred  Meeting  place,  was 
of  paramount  importance,  not  only  then,  for  the  Benai-Israel 
tribes,  but  for  the  universe  entirely.  They  claim  that  there  is  a 
prototype  sanctuary  in  heaven,  the  residence  of  the  Schechina, 
the  divine  Majesty, and  that  the  Tabernacle  of  Mosis  was  its  sacred 


272  EXODUS,    MOSES   AND   THE    DECALOGUE. 

copy,  its  double;  as  kings  have  many  palaces,  so  God  has  many, 
one  residence  on  high  and  another  here  below  on  earth,  just  in 
the  center  of  the  world.^ 

But  we  are  not  here  to  discuss  mysticism,  or  the  residence  of 
the  God  of  Israel,  whom  Solomon  already  had  described  as  not 
to  be  encompassed  by  all  the  heavens,  as  boundless  in  space  and 
time,  omnipresent  and  eternal.^  God  resides  nowhere  and  never 
rests.  He  is  the  ever  active  creator,  thinking  Principle  of  the 
universe.  Should  He  stop  and  rest  for  one  moment,  all  would 
collapse  into  chaos  or  annihilation.  As  the  heart  is  ever  moving, 
throbbing,  propelling;  as  the  blood  is  constantly  circulating  in 
the  body,  to  and  fro ;  as  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  life,  the 
pulse  remains  ever  astir,  active,  and  when  it  stops  its  functions, 
at  once  life  too  stops  and  is  extinct — even  similar  is  the  Deity,  the 
heart  and  Soul  of  all  existence,  the  Life  of  the  universe.^  Intelli- 
gence, Energy,  Activity,  Impulse  and  Source  of  all.  He  never 
rests.  He  resides  everywhere  and  needs  na  special  residence  in 
space  or  time.^ 

Even  such  is  the  Ineffable  Being  described  in  our  text  (II.  M. 
24,  15)  :  "Moses  went  up  to  the  mount,  enveloped  in  clouds  and 
thereon  rested  the  Majesty  of  Ihvh" — not  He  Himself  rested — 
"and  the  vision  of  His  glory  was  as  a  consuming  fire  on  the 
mountain  top."  Thus  the  majesty  of  Israel's  Ineffable  One  was 
reflected  on  Sinai  and  from  there  the  prophet  caught  up  a  glimpse 
of  the  divine.  Look  here,  how  anthropomorphism  is  carefully 
discarded.  The  lawgiver  is  anxious  to  have  you  cling  to  the 
God-idea,  but  not  under  any  mythologic  form  as  current  in  his 
time:  God  is  the  Supreme  Mind,  the  ever  active  Intelligence  cre- 
ating and  superintending  nature,  all  existence. 

What  now  is  the  bearing,  the  actual  sense  of  our  theme? 
What  meant  the  ancient  sanctuary,  the  Mishkan?  The  presence 
of  God  was  not  limited  by  it.  He  being  everywhere.  But  it  was 
intended  as  the  place  where  the  people  should  meet  Him,  should 


iTahur-ha-arez,  The  Jerusalem  Temple,  too,  had  in  its  Holy  of  Holies 
a  basic  stone  Eben-Shethia,  claimed  as  the  center  of  the  world.  The 
temples  of  Babylon,  Mecca,  etc.,  made  similar  claims.  See  Sayce's 
Religion  of  Babylon,  U,  374. 

2  I  Kings,  viii,  27.  Behold  the  heavens  and  the  heavens  of  heavens 
contain  thee  not,  the  less  can  this  house. 

3Hai-01om. 

*Maimonides'  Guide,  after  Aristotle. 


THE  IMPORT  OF  TABERNACLE  AND  TEMPLE.  273 

come  prepared,  properly  tuned,  in  the  right  disposition  of  mind, 
the  calm  of  the  soul,  the  open  eyes  and  the  attentive  ears,  to  find 
and  sec,  listen  to  and  hear  the  Godhead.  The  ancient  sanctuary,  as 
the  modern  one,  is  the  special,  consecrated  place  where  man  is  to 
meet  the  divine.  God,  all-pervading,  omnipresent,  is  present  to 
man  in  the  sanctuary,  especially. 

Now  the  ancient  Temple  was,  in  many  regards,  more  important 
than  the  modern  one.  The  present  house  of  worship,  synagogue, 
church  or  mosque,  has  not  fully  the  same  significance  as  the 
Temple  for  ancient  Israel.  We  moderns  have  as  many  houses  of 
worship  as  there  are  many  congregations.  Yea,  there  are  nowadays 
many  shrines  without  congregations,  houses  of  worship  without 
worshipers.  The  Temple  of  our  times  is  to  many  persons  a 
solemn  place  for  an  occasional  call.  To  others  it  is  an  opportunity 
for  state  and  display.  To  others  again  it  is  the  fifth  wheel  in  the 
social  carriage,  utterly  dispensable.  To  others,  even  one  of  scof- 
fing and  irreverence.  As  there  has  always  been  preaching  with- 
out point  or  contents,  and  spiritual  men  without  spirit  and  with- 
out spirituality,  even  so  with  many  people,  worship  has  lost  all 
credit,  all  credence,  and  all  real  meaning,  it  has  become  a  mere 
stale  lip-service,  a  banality.  And  this  will  go  on  so  until  men 
will  succeed  in  having  things  called  by  their  right  names  and  the 
right  men  in  the  right  places. 

Otherwise  it  was  with  the  ancient  Mishkan  of  Israel.  It  was 
not  a  Temple,  but  the  Temple,  the  people's  foundation,  the  cor- 
nerstone of  Society,  the  only  one  national  sanctuary,  one  Temple 
for  the  one  people  of  the  One  God.  Every  Jew,  wherever  he  re- 
sided, when  praying,  turned  his  eyes  and  thoughts  towards  that 
unique  sanctuary.  When  the  Reubenites  in  Joshua's  time  and  the 
Samaritans  in  that  of  Ezra-Nehemiah,  attempted  to  establish  an 
extra  shrine,  it  was  cried  down  as  rank  apostasy.  That  one  and 
unique  national  sanctuary  had  its  own  special,  hereditary,  conse- 
crated, national  priesthood.  A  stranger  who  tried  to  intrude  was 
to  die  for  his  presumption. ^  Around  that  unique  house  settled 
the  leading  priestly  families,  the  hereditary  and  anointed  spiritual 
caste  and  the  high-priest  on  top.  There  resided  the  great  national 
authorities,  the  Synhedrion,  the  chief  officers  and  magistrates, 
and  close  by  the  rulers  and  government.     There  was  the  brain. 


^The  strancer  approaching  shall  die.     IV  M..  i,  51. 


274  EXODUS,    MOSES    AND   THE    DECALOGUE. 

the  heart  and  the  nerve  of  the  people  closely  grouped  together. 
The  public  cult,  service  and  worship  did  not  consist,  as  in  the 
Synagogue  to-day,  in  simple  prayers  recited  by  a  lay-man,  but 
in  various,  complicated  sacrifices  and  offerings,  with  religious 
pageant,  a  magnificent  ritual  requiring  a  numerous,  carefully 
trained,  hereditary  priesthood  to  superintend  it  properly  and  effec- 
tively. This  sacrificial  cult  and  its  ceremonies  and  rites  were  the 
privilege  of  and  limited  to  the  one  great  national  Temple.  It 
was  termed  Tabernacle,  Mishkan,  so  long  as  the  Hebrews  were 
not  definitely  settled;  it  was  later  termed  Sanctuary,  Baith-ha- 
miqdash,  from  the  times  of  King  Solomon,  who  rebuilt  it  in  stone, 
and  during  the  first  and  second  Jewish  Commonwealths. 

Thus  the  ancient  Temple  was  not  simply  a  house  of  prayer, 
Baith-hatep'hila;  no,  it  was  the  great  important  central  institution 
of  the  Judaic  State  and  people.  It  was  the  nucleus  and  founda- 
tion stone  of  the  patriarchal  race  and  its  country,  its  citadel  and 
capitol,  the  indissoluble  bond,  the  unbreakable  connecting  tie 
between  the  scattered  millions  of  the  Diaspora,  the  center  of 
gravitation  and  focus  of  all  powers,  social,  political  and  religious. 
It  was  the  Hebraic  Kcbla,  the  symbol  of  the  unity  of  ancestry, 
blood  and  doctrine,  the  golden  girdle  of  the  union  of  the  Twelve 
Tribes  of  ancient  Benai-Israel,  hailing  from  the  scattered  pasture- 
grounds  of  the  Patriarchs  in  Khanaan ;  with  their  originally  many 
cults,  clans  and  bloods  of  Amorite,  Hittite,  etc.,  origin.  This  unique, 
national  Temple  was  emblematic :  That  all  their  diverse  elements 
and  tongues  have  fused  and  coalesced  into  the  one  people,  race, 
faith  and  country  of  Judaea.  Mount  Moriah  was  the  great  fastness, 
the  Capitol  of  the  monotheistic  world,  as  the  Roman  capitol  on  the 
Mount  Palatine  was  the  summit  and  head  of  the  polytheistic 
world.  It  was  the  fountain-spring  of  the  national  life,  the  blood- 
reservoir  of  Judah.  When  tribe  after  tribe,  district  after  dis- 
trict, city  after  city,  and  limb  after  limb  were  torn  away  from 
the  Jewish  body  and  country ;  when  Assyrians,  Babylonians,  Per- 
sians, Romans,  Arabs,  dismembered  and  lacerated  the  nation  and 
led  away  captive  entire  tribes,  still  the  nation  lived.  Israel  was 
not  struck  to  the  heart,  he  was  profusely  bleeding,  but  the 
national  soul  still  remained  intact,  the  vital  energy  yet  welling 
from  brain  and  heart,  soon  restored  and  re-integrated  the  lop- 
ped-off  limbs  of  the  trunk,  that  national  soul  yet  remained  inte- 
gral, full  of  the  inherited  energy.    It  needed  but  a  short  respite,  a 


THE  IMPORT  OF  TABERNACLE  AND  TEMPLE.  275 

•favorable  opportunity  to  effect  restoration,  and  such  wonderful 
restoration   repeatedly  took   place. 

So  when  the  Persian  Cyrus  and  Darius,  authorized  the  captive 
Jews  to  return  to  their  ancestral  country,  Zerubabel,  Ezra  and 
Nehemia,  began  the  restoration  of  the  country  with  the  resto- 
ration and  establishment  of  the  Sanctuary  on  Moriah.  So  when 
the  Maccabean  leaders  had  routed  the  Syrian  tyrant  and  ex- 
pelled his  lieutenants  and  his  armies  from  the  heart  of  Judaea, 
the  national  independence  was  inaugurated  with  the  freed,  restored 
Temple.  The  Temple-rededication.  Hainikah,  meant  the  re-estab- 
lishment of  the  Judaean  commonwealth.  So  later,  when  Ves- 
pasian and  Titus  had  conquered  every  Judaean  city  and  every 
stronghold,  when  they  had  slaughtered  myriads  and  sold  under  the 
hammer  more  of  its  defenders,  still  they  had  not  conquered  the 
nation,  it  was  yet  pulsing  in  the  heart.  Only  when  they  had 
burned  down  the  Baith  Ha-Miqdash,  then  Unis  Jitdacae,  it 
mourned  its  Ninth  of  Ab,  Rome  triumphed,  apparently.  Still 
the  nation  revived  and  lived  in  its  doctrine,  in  the  schoolhouse,  in 
the  higher  Temple  restored  in  Yamnia  by  R-  Johanan  ben  Sakkai, 
a  better  fighter  than  Bar-Geora  and  Bar-Kochba.  When  the 
physical  force  failed,  there  was  yet  hope  for  the  intellectual  one. 

Thus  we  have  surveyed  the  import  of  the  Sanctuary  in  Jew- 
ish history.  We  have  seen,  the  Baith-Hamikdash  vv^as  to  ancient 
Israel  his  palladium,  the  central  focus,  the  life-source  of  his 
existence.  We  shall  therefore  no  longer  find  it  strange  that 
the  Mosaic  Legislator,  spent  so  much  care  upon  its  establish- 
ment. We  shall  easily  understand  why  so  many  chapters  of 
Exodus  are  occupied  w^ith  the  description  of  all  the  great  and 
the  minor  objects  and  arrangements  of  the  Tabernacle.  It  was 
not  simply  a  prayer-house,  no,  it  was  the  most  important  insti- 
tution of  the  nation.  It  contained,  religiously,  politically,  nation- 
ally, the  entire  soul-life  of  the  people,  the  seat  of  all  the  powers, 
bodily,  ethically  and  intellectually  of  the  Commonwealth,  the 
shrine  where  the  national  soul  was  breathing,  in  eternal  touch 
with  the  Deity,  the  universal  Soul. 

We  emphasize :  No  doubt  the  Deity  is  infinite  and  eternal,  at 
all  times  and  everywhere,  all  pervading,  not  only  in  the  Temple 
and  on  holidays.  But  everywhere  else  than  in  the  sacred  place 
and  the  sacred  hour,  man  is  not  with  God,  not  in  a  mood  to  feel, 
to  be  aware  of  and  in  touch  with  Him.     The  worldly  cares  and 


^^(i  EXODUS,   MOSES   AND   THE   DECALOGUE. 

troubles,  the  arduous  struggle  for  existence,  the  never  resting 
passions,  pulling  our  heart  in  a  hundred  directions :  hope,  fear, 
anxiety;  ambition  and  disappointments,  love,  hate,  jealousy,  re- 
venge; all  that  shuts  out  the  divinity  from  our  eyes,  feelings  and 
thoughts.  The  solicitude  for  bread  and  gain,  for  today  and  to-mor- 
row, renders  us  blind,  deaf  and  mute  to  the  divine  presence.  The 
sanctuary  is  to  counteract  and  neutralize  these  evil  influences. 
The  sacred  place  and  hour  are  calculated  to  hush  away  for  a 
time  and  exclude  the  passions  with  the  worldly  cares  from  our 
mind.  Fear,  covetousness,  invidiousness,  sensuality  are  silenced ; 
ambition,  rivalry  and  disappointment  are  soothed.  In  the  sacred 
place  and  hour  we  recognize  the  Deity  within  and  around  us, 
chastizing  us,  frowning  on  us,  encouraging  us,  inspiring  us  with 
sweet  hope,  suave  resignation  and  the  will  to  be  better  and  hap- 
pier. In  the  sacred  hour  and  place,  in  prayer  and  meditation  we 
take  a  better  survey  of  things  around  and  in  us,  passions  are 
soothed,  reason  and  conscience  awaken,  the  ever-speaking  voice 
of  God  filling  the  universe,  reverberates  into  our  minds.  In  the 
sacred  hour  and  place  we  stand  "face  to  face"  with  God  perme- 
ating all.  The  Prayer-house  is  our  Baith-El,  our  Gate  of 
heaven,  our  Jacob's  ladder,  the  mysterious  spot  where  zve  ascend 
to  heaven,  where  the  divine  messengers  descend  to  us,  where 
we  hold  communion  with  the  Supreme  Source  of  Existence. 
And  this  is  the  import  of  our  theme :  "They  shall  build  Me  a 
sanctuary  that  I  dwell  among  them."  God  is  everywhere — for 
man  He  is  in  the  hour  and  place  of  worship. 

ONCE   AND    NOW. 

Such  was  the  sanctuary,  Mishkan,  in  olden  times.  What  is 
the  Synagogue  of  today?  Let  us  be  plain.  The  Synagogue  is 
what  the  Sanctuary  was,  a  Synagogue  is  not.  Such  is  the 
Institution,  in  spirit ;  the  structure  simple,  is  not.  The  Syna- 
gogue, in  the  abstract,  justly  aspires  to  be  what,  once,  the  Temple 
was.  To-day,  a  Synagogue,  generally,  is  not  what  the  Temple 
once  was  to  ancient  Israel  of  Judaea. 

There  are  to-day  many  synagogues  in  every  large  city.  Each 
of  them  is  built  by  a  set  of  wardens  for  their  special  constituents. 
Each  congregation  is  a  unit  for  itself,  not  identified  with  either 
its  country  or  nationality.     Just  as  a  part  is  not  the  whole,  but  a 


ONCE  AND  NOW.  277 

fraction  of  the  whole.  Can  we  apply  our  text,  in  all  its  preg- 
nant import,  to  the  present  Synagogue?  "They  shall  build  for 
Me  a  Temple  that  I  may  rest  among  them."  No  absolute  reply 
can  be  given  to  this  query,  we  must  qualify  and  specialize  the 
problem.  The  Synagogue  in  the  abstract,  is  identical  with  the 
Temple  of  Mosaic  times,  each  concrete  Synagogue  is  not.  Why 
so?  In  our  modern  epoch  of  decentralization,  division  of  labor 
and  of  function,  ethical,  intellectual,  professional  and  social, 
divisions  too  have  been  decentralized  and  separated.  The  politi- 
cal and  national  functions  of  the  ancient  Sanctuary  have  been 
separated  and  are  now  elsewhere,  greatly  performed  by  other 
institutions  and  other  functionaries  than  Temple  and  priests. 
Nevertheless  the  share  of  influence  and  importance  of  the  Syna- 
gogue is  still  very  great.  Even  in  our  times  of  divided  influ- 
ences, if  the  Synagogue  is  devoted  to  its  truly  helpful  objects, 
teaching,  improving  and  enlightening,  then  it  is  qodesh,  holy ;  it  is 
a  Miqdash,  a  sanctuary,  and  God  resides  therein.  If  the  people 
come  there  and  seek  Him,  then  they  will  find  Him ;  if  their  minds 
are  well  prepared,  they  will  not  be  disappointed. 

Consider  this  well :  It  is  not  the  costliness,  the  elegance,  the 
high  dome  of  the  edifice,  not  the  splendor  and  wealth  of  the 
outfit,  not  the  elaborate  music,  not  the  wordy  eloquence  of  the 
pulpit  which  qualify  a  hall  to  be  a  sanctuary.  No !  It  is  the 
sincere  desire  of  the  leaders  to  do  good,  the  determined  will  of 
the  Congregation  to  improve,  the  caliber  of  the  teachings,  intel- 
lectually and  morally,  the  deep  meditation  and  the  fervent  prayers 
which  are  the  nerve,  the  essence  and  the  import  of  the  worship. 
These  do  make  a  room,  a  sanctuary.  If  the  contents  are  holy, 
qodesh,  then  the  house  becomes  a  sanctuary,  a  Miqdash.  If 
man  seeks  there  his  nobler  self,  in  touch  with  the  divine,  then  it  is 
a  house  of  God,  now  as  once. 

Even  so  say  our  Agadists '}  "Beautiful  art  thou,  my  dear  one. 
Thine  eyes,  a  pair  of  doves  (Song  of  Songs,  1,  15). — Lovely 
art  thou,  O  Israel,  lovely  in  the  family,  in  the  Synagogue  and 
at  work ;  exhibiting  everywhere  charity,  purity,  godliness.    Lovely 


^jn   .nxDi   nnstj'  ,np!?  r^^r\   ^.r\'^^y\  n^an  -TTinx  ■'tryoni  -q^t^'yoa 

(Yakut,  375)  DVn  PD  IJJin  yhv 


278  EXODUS,    MOSES   AND   THE    DECALOGUE. 

in  this  world  and  in  that  to  come.  As  the  dove  meekly  submits 
to  the  slaughterer,  even  with  such  resignation  is  Israel  suffering 
a  long  martyrdom,  for  the  higher  ethics  and  the  nobler  doctrines 
taught  in  the  temple  of  Moriah  and  in  the  Synagogue  of  the 
Dispersion.  And  as  long  as  such  are  taught  and  practiced,  God 
is  in  the  Synagogue,  and  the  Synagogue  is  a  sanctuary. 

THE  HOLY  VESSELS  OF  THE  TABERNACLE. 

Having  discussed  and  analyzed  the  import  of  the  Mosaic  itin- 
arary  Mislikan  (Sanctuary),  let  us  now  further  elucidate  our 
theme  and  succinctly  examine  its  suggestive  component  parts, 
its  sacred  vessels  and  ritualistic  ingredients.  They  are  described 
in  our  passage  (H  M.  25)  in  all  their  details  and  specifications, 
in  many  chapters  and  pericopes.  And  this  was  not  simply  meant 
as  a  memorial  record  for  the  national  archives,  but  with  the  in- 
tent and  purpose  of  keeping  and  preserving  the  exact  plan  and 
all  its  details  and  minutia,  a  verbal  fac-simile  for  future  refer- 
ence; as  if  intending  to  recommend  that  model-structure,  with 
all  its  component  parts,  as  a  pattern  for  ages  to  come,  as  the  one 
ordained  by  God,  and  thus  enable  posterity  to  build  a  permanent 
definite  Temple,  after  the  sketch  of  that  temporary  Tabernacle. 
Jewish  annals  show  indeed  that  this  pattern  was  followed  up,  on  a 
larger  scale  and  proportions,  later  in  the  Temples  built  by  Solo- 
mon, Ezra-Nehemia,  the  Maccabeans  and  Herod. 

According  to  the  verbatim  statement  in  this  (H  M.  25th) 
chapter,  frequently  and  insistingly  repeated  in  that  connection  in 
our  pericope,  Moses  was  bid  to  build  the  Tabernacle  after  the 
model  and  prototype  shown  him  on  the  holy  mount.  So  we  read 
(H  M.  25,  9)  "Thou  shalt  make  me  a  sanctuary  exactly  as  that 
I  now  show  thee... the  likeness  of  the  Tabernacle  and  all  its 
vessels,  just  so  ye  shall  do".  .  .We  have  alluded  to  our  expounders 
who  took  this  literally  and  mystically :  "Long  ago  our  sages  have 
whispered  into  our  ears  that  the  Mishkan  was  modeled  after  the 
pattern  of  the  universe, "^  i.  e.,  it  is  a  microcosmos  representing 
in  miniature  the  very  cosmos.  Viz :  A  vague  mystical  view  was 
entertained  by  the  ancients  that,  there  exists  in  the  heavens  the 
very  prototype  of  a  divine  palace,  of  which  this  our  Mosaic  struc- 


-i{i'X3^  '?^?^^Dr^  D^iyn  n^jan  M?  nt^-yj  pr^^nK'   .lyjTN   ^"T"n   i^j  -i33  i 
(Akeidoth  Itzchack  36  B.)  p^nj  nSiynti^  1?D3  pivn  ntj'p^':?  p^nj  Nin 


THE  HOLY  VESSELS  OF  THE  TABERNACLE.  279 

ture  was  an  exact  copy/  and  that  to  this  refers  the  verse  (25,  9) 
quoted.  This  view  Philo,  the  Jewish  philosopher  of  Alexandria, 
ingeniously  elaborated,^  showing  that  the  sacred  edifice  symboli- 
cally remembered  the  universe,  that  the  Mishkan  proper  and  its 
external  parts,  represented  the  material  world,  that  its  Holy  of 
Holies,  Qodshai-Qodoshim,  recalled  the  ideal  universe;  its  four- 
fold coverings  meant  the  four  terrestrial  elements ;  the  Two 
Cherubim  were  emblematic  of  the  creative  and  the  conserva- 
tive Powers;  the  seven  lamps  of  the  candelabrum  (Menorah) 
alluded  to  the  seven  planets  (of  old  astronomy)  ;  the  Table  with 
the  twelve  shewbread,  recalled  the  Zodiac  with  its  twelve  con- 
stellations ;  the  altar  of  incense,  man's  gratitude  for  his  sus- 
tenance, food,  water,  etc. 

Josephus  (Antiquities,  HI,  6  and  7)  follows  this  trend  of 
exegesis  with  small  variations  and  many  further  minute  speci- 
fications and  elucidations,  conforming  to  the  threefold  concep- 
tion of  the  world  of  ancient  astronomy.  According  to  him,  the 
Aula,  Haaor,  of  the  Mosaic  edifice  symbolized  the  earth ;  the 
Mishkan  does  the  surrounding  sea,  and  the  Holy  of  Holies  is 
emblem  of  the  heavens.  He  says  verbatim :  The  proportions 
and  dimensions  of  the  Tabernacle  prove  to  have  been  an  imita- 
tion of  the  system  of  the  world.  .  .for  the  third  part  thereof  to 
which  the  priests  were  not  admitted  is,  as  it  were,  a  heaven  re- 
served for  God  (Ibid.,  6,  4,  and  Ibid.,  7,  7).  All  that  was  a  rep- 
resentation of  the  universe,  consisting  of  three  parts,  viz :  two 
for  the  priests  and  laity,  such  are  land  and  sea  for  man,  and  a 
third  division  for  God,  the  Holy  of  Holies ;  twelve  loaves  were 
on  the  table,  according  to  the  12  yearly  months.  The  candle- 
stick branching  out  into  seven  lamps  symbolized  the  seven 
divisions  of  the  planets.  Its  seven  lamps  referred  to  the  course  of 
the  planets.  The  four  vails  represented  the  four  elements,  viz: 
the  fine  linen,  the  earth;  the  purple  the  sea;  the  blue,  the  air; 
the  scarlet,  the  fire.  The  vestments  of  the  high-priest  were  em- 
blems of  the  same." 

Some  fathers  of  the  Church,  in  part  at  least,  adopted  a  similar 
interpretation.  So  do  most  of  our  older  Jewish  commentators, 
Radak  and  Abarbanel.  More  sober  and  rationalistic  is  Mai- 
monides  (Guide,  III,  45,  etc.).     He  interprets  our  sacred  struc- 


2Philo.  Vita  Mosis  III,  665:    Ta  necte,  the  ideal,  and  ta  aisteta,  the 
sensual. 


28o  EXODUS,    MOSES    AND    THE    DECALOGUE. 

ture  and  its  arrangements  in  the  literal  sense,  not  unlike  to  our 
above  expounding:  It  was  the  great  national  Meeting-house  of 
man  with  the  Deity,  for  worship  and  inspiration.  Its  parapher- 
nalia, vessels  and  cult,  all  was  calculated  to  impress  upon  the 
Congregation  the  Mosaic  doctrines  in  their  full  and  extreme  op- 
position to  polytheism  and  its  heathen  practices.  But  some 
Agadists  enter  into  even  more  minute  details,  likewise  proving 
the  symbolic  character  of  the  sacred  edifice,  as  a  miniature  copy 
of  the  universe ;  others  again  as  a  miniature  of  the  human  body. 
The  Church  utilized  that  method  in  its  own  interest,  viz :  The 
Mosaic  Mishkan  was  an  anticipation  and  prototype  of  the  future 
church,  the  Christian  Congregation,  the  pope,  as  head  thereof, 
the  college  of  dignitaries,  their  sacred  office  and  functions,  etc. 
There  will  be  no  end  of  rehearsing  all  what  phantasy  and  mystic 
speculations  tried  to  fasten  upon  our  simple  theme. 

Further  on  we  shall  see  some  analogy  to  this  in  the  Temple 
symbolism  of  Western  Asia.  According  to  our  text,  viewed  by 
the  searchlight  of  criticism,  common  sense,  the  contemporaneous 
history  of  neighboring  Babylonian  and  Assyrian,  and  the  sound 
interpretation  of  oriental,  metaphorical  language,  we  shall  easily 
understand  our  subject,  and  especially  verse  9th,  alluding  to  a 
model  shown  to  Moses  on  the  sacred  Mount.  We  shall  find  this 
without  recurring  to  any  artificial  mysticism  and  farfetched  alle- 
gories. Still  we  do  admit  a  natural,  rational  symbolism,  one 
befitting  the  occasion  and  the  times,  and  well  authenticated  by  a 
critical  exegesis  of  ancient  sacred  books.  To  my  mind  the 
text  clearly  enough  means,  just  what  it  expresses.  It  is  the 
detailed  description  of  the  great  Israelitish,  theocratic  Institu- 
tion, of  the  central  national  Sanctuary;  important  at  all  times, 
but  all-important  at  that  hoary  epoch  and  for  ancient  and  re- 
ligious Israel,  as  corroborated  by  similar  phenomena  among  the 
Babylonians,  Assyrians,  Egyptians,  as  above  alluded  to.  Taking 
into  consideration  those  remote  ages  and  environments,  that 
event  well  stands  out  before  our  gaze  with  its  full  meaning  and 
import,  without  having  reference  to  myth  or  mysticism.  An 
event,  3500  years  old,  in  Western  Asia,  where  Cult,  hierarchy, 
worship,  were  of  the  very  first  social,  political  and  ethical  im- 
portance; a  young  society,  an  incipient  state,  resting  upon  a 
sacerdotal  and  theocratic  basis,  and  destined  for  long  centuries 
to  continue  so,  as  above  hinted  at,  for  such  circumstances   the 


THE  HOLY  VESSELS  OF  THE  TABERNACLE.  281 

sanctuary  was  to  be  the  very  foundation  and  nucleus  of  the 
commonwealth.  The  Cult  was  to  form  the  strongest  national  bond 
of  the  Twelve  Tribes.  The  one  national  Temple  represented,  both, 
the  unity  of  the  Deity  and  the  unity  of  the  clans.  The  sanctuary 
was  also  to  symbolize  the  Deity  in  touch  with  the  congregation, 
residing  in  its  midst  and  leading  it  on,  in  peace  and  in  war.  It 
was  a  moving  Sinai  for  perpetual  revelations. 

Considering  all  that,  the  erection  of  the  Tabernacle  will  appear 
to  us  as  an  event  of  the  very  greatest  moment,  and  we  shall  find 
it  fully  justified  that  a  large  part  of  the  II.  Book  of  Moses  is 
mainly  occupied  with  its  narrative,  its  minute  description  and  its 
full  arrangements.  This  point  admitted,  the  sequel  will  appear 
perfectly  natural.  During  that  great  period  of  formation  and 
national  birth,  the  escape  from  Egypt,  the  triumph  at  the  Red 
Sea,  or,  according  to  Bruggsh-Bay's  researches,  the  lake  Sirbonis, 
the  camping  in  the  wilderness  of  Arabia,  and  the  advent  of  the 
Sinaic  period,  the  lawgiver  did  first  elaborate  his  grand,  Organic 
Law,  the  Ten  Words,  His  social  and  ethical  basis  of  his  nascent 
people,  the  pillars  upon  which  stands  the  civilization  of  Israel  and 
of  mankind.  Then,  still  continuing  in  that  vigorous  atmosphere 
and  that  constructive  epoch,  for  forty  days  (Ibid.,  34,  17)  and 
then  for  forty  years,  a  succinct  outline  of  civil,  penal  and  agrarian 
Code,  later  also  of  home-industrial  laws  was  developed  from 
the  principles  laid  down  in  the  organic  Law.  This  was  just 
what  was  indispensably  necessary  for  an  incipient  people.  So 
were  gradually  matured  and  promulgated  the  materials  and  ele- 
ments of  the  pericopes  denominated :  Jethro,  Mishpatim,  Ter- 
unia,  from  II.  M.  19th  onwards.  In  the  same  epoch  of  the 
Israelitish  establishment,  the  lawgiver  formed  in  his  exalted 
mind  and  saw  mentally  and  ideally,  the  outline  of  a  national 
Sanctuary,  its  urgency,  its  objects,  its  arrangements,  structure, 
sacred  vessels,  minor  utensils  and  all  its  paraphernalia.  He  saw 
all  that  in  his  idea,  in  his  meditation,  inspired  thought.  And  of 
this  inspiration  we  find  in  our  chapters  the  faithful  copy  and 
description. 

So  the  artist  sees  in  the  mirror  of  his  mind,  his  painting  or  his 
marble  statue  he  is  going  to  produce,  long  before  he  handles 
chisel  or  brush,  long  before  he  touches  the  marble  or  the  canvas. 
He  sees  and  contemplates  it  clearly,  fully,  with  his  mind's  eye 
as  plain  and  distinct,  as  if  he  had  a  pattern  before  his  gaze.     And 


282  EXODUS,    MOSES   AND    THE    DECALOGUE. 

this  is  the  likeness  of  the  Tabernacle  alluded  to  in  II.  M.  35,  9, 
fully  delineated  in  the  middle  part  of  our  Book  of  Exodus.^ 

A  certain  analogy,  if  not  a  pattern  to  our  subject-matter,  we 
find  in  the  recently  deciphered  religio-philosophical  concepts  in 
ancient  Egypt  and  in  Babylonia.  There  the  view  was  assumed 
that:  Of  each  and  every  single  object  of  this  material  world, 
there  exists,  first,  a  spiritual  model,  called :  image,  original, 
double,  prototype,  fac-simile,  spirit  or  Soul,  of  each  material 
body.  These  vague  popular  notions  were  then  philosophically 
elaborated,  so  as  to  really  mean  that :  The  prototypes  of  each 
kind  or  species,  are  the  realities  of  the  world,  permanent  and 
abiding;  while  their  grosser  doubles,  the  bodily  imitations  which 
we  see,  are  but  ephemeral,  evanescent,  mortal.  Such  a  proto- 
type was  termed  in  Egypt  the  Ka,  and  pretty  much  the  same 
thing  was  denominated  in  Babylon  the  Zi,  viz :  life,  spirit. 
Ka  and  Zi  are  not  perfectly  identical,  nor  is  either  fully  identical 
with  our  concept  of  soul,  yet  they  are  so,  essentially,  though 
diversely  expressed.^  Prof.  A.  H.  Sayce  points  out,  that  this 
view  became  later  even  the  doctrine  of  the  Ideas  of  Plato.  The 
Platonic  Ideas  were  the  elaborated  Egypto-Babylonian  Ka  and 
Zi  doctrines,  metaphysically  reconstructed,  first  crude  popular 
beliefs,  distilled  and  formulated  to  a  logical,  metaphysical  con- 
cept. At  the  Academy  of  Plato  it  was  taught  that  all  things, 
bodily  and  mortal,  are  but  copies  from  such  prototypes.  Ideas 
which  emerged  from  the  divine  laboratory,  the  thought  of  Deity. 
At  first  God  thought  the  universe  and  each  of  its  species ;  His 
thought  created  the  Ideas;  and  these  Ideas  condensed  as  the 
single,  bodily  objects  of  the  visible  world.  These  Ideas  alone 
are  real  and  permanent.  In  concrete,  material  form,  they  are 
infinitely  multiplied,  in  mortal,  ephemeral,  earthly  copies.  They 
are  the  bodily  objects  we,  men,  grasp  with  our  senses.  Leibnitz 
elaborated  this  theory  into  his  own  doctrine  of  the  Monads. 
Strikingly  similar  is  the  mode  of  thought  underlying  our  theme 
(II  M.  25,  9)  :  Moses  saw,  ideally,  in  the  Sinaic  sphere,  the 
pattern  and  the  plan  in  outline,  of  his  young  nation's  coming 
sanctuary,    and   in   that   inspiring   atmosphere   he    received   the 


"lAll  as  I  show  thee.  The  likeness  of  the  Tabernacle,  and  of  all  its 
furnishings,  so  ye  shall  do." 

2See  Maspero,  Hommel,  Zimmerman  on  that,  and  especially  A.  H. 
Sayce's  Religion  of  Egypt  and  Babylonia,  Edinburgh,  1902,  pp.  48,  56, 
58,  185,  276,  etc. 


THE  HOLY  VESSELS  OF  THE  TABERNACLE.  283 

divine  call  upon  him  to  realize  the  sketch  materially;  to  realize 
it  as  a  Mishkan,  a  meeting-place  for  his  people  with  the  Deity; 
to  copy  the  prototype  he  had  seen  in  his  vision  on  the  Mount, 
as  a  substantial  edifice  for  sacred  purposes. 

WORSHIP  AND  SACRIFICIAL  CULT. 

The  most  sacred  parts  of  that  structure  were :  The  Holy  Ark 
with  the  two  cherubs,  the  two  altars,  the  candelabrum  and  the 
table  of  shew-bread.  The  Holy  Ark  contained  the  two  tablets 
of  stone  with  the  Ten  Words  engraved  on  them  and,  according 
to  further  reports,  also  some  reliqiies  of  national  import  to  be 
preserved  for  posterity.  Our  text  ordains  :  To  place  in  the  Arch 
the  Testimony,  Editth  (II  M.,  25,  21),  which  is  assumed  as  identi- 
cal with  the  Decalogue-scroll.  Whether  it  contained  also  copies  of 
other  parts  of  the  Pentateuch,  is  claimed  by  some,  but  critically 
not  proved,  rather  disproved. 

Of  next  importance  were  the  two  altars,  one  for  incense  and 
one  for  bloody  sacrifices ;  the  candlestick  with  the  seven  lamps  and 
the  Golden  Table  with  the  twelve  shewbread.  Their  analogon,  too, 
one  finds  in  the  chief  sanctuary  of  Babylon,  but  having  there  a 
vastly  different  meaning.  There  they  can  be  decidedly  retraced 
to  idolatry,  ancestor  and  star-worship,  anthropomorphism  and 
polytheism.  The  ancient  polytheists  used  to  offer  food,  drink  and 
incense  to  their  departed  ones.  A  large  and  prosperous  posterity, 
combined  with  conquest,  soon  raised  the  tribal  patriarch  to  a  na- 
tional genius,  a  god.  The  gods  had  been  men,  leading,  heroic 
chieftains  became  gods.  To  them  gifts,  bloody  sacrifices  and  in- 
cense were  offered  on  their  graves.  When,  in  the  course  of  time, 
they  became  gods,  such  offerings  continued  to  be  deposited  on 
their  altars.  Most,  if  not  all,  of  the  Egyptian  and  Babylonian 
shrines  were  both  tombs  and  temples,  tombs  of  the  original  mor- 
tal occupant  and  temples  of  the  canonized  god,  the  apotheosized 
ancestor.  All  that  is  pure  idolatry,  execrated  and  severely  pro- 
hibited by  Mosaism.  In  the  Bible  and  Talmud  it  is  ever  remem- 
bered as  idolatrous  "funeral-offerings."^  It  began  with  the  su- 
perstitious assumption  that  the  dead  will  revive  and  enjoy  of  such 
gifts,  and  it  culminated  in  the  other  more  heinous  pretense  that 
they  have  become  gods,  nay,  even  the  Supreme  God. 


iSibhai-Methim. 


284  EXODUS,    MOSES    AND    THE    DECALOGUE 

Such  were  the  Babylonian  Merodach,  the  Assyrian  Assur  and 
the  Egyptian  Osiris.  Then  dead-offerings  were  thus  the  very 
center  of  idolatry.  They  rested  upon  the  superstition  of  deified 
men  and  anthropomorphized  gods.  Mosaism  proscribed  and  ve- 
hemently forbade  all  such  offerings  to  the  dead,  divinized  man 
and  humanized  gods.  But,  in  the  course  of  prehistoric  times, 
sacrifices  of  animals,  meats,  incense  and  libations  had  become  the 
universal  mode  of  worship,  even  with  peoples  and  sanctuaries  in- 
clining towards  more  pure  and  lofty  ethical  religions.  So  Mo- 
saism, too,  had  to  concede  sacrifices  as  a  mode  of  worship,  but 
only  to  the  One,  Spiritual  God,  the  Supreme  Mind,  not  to  many, 
nor  to  material  divinities.  Moreover,  it  expressly  stated  that  these 
sacrifices  are  not  meant  as  God's  food  and  drink,  but  as  a  symbol- 
ical atonement  for  man,  an  expiation  for  his  sins,  an  expression 
of  repentance  of  the  worshipper,  or  of  his  reverence  and  gratitude 
for  divine  benefactions.  The  Bible  and  the  Pentateuch  are  per- 
fectly plain  concerning  the  significance  of  the  sacrificial  cult.  The 
prophets  mention  it  even  with  small  tenderness,  often  almost  with 
irony.  These  sacrifices  are  emblems  merely  of  transgression,  ex- 
piation and  forgiveness,  old  forms  for  ever-living  ideas,  and  con- 
tain nothing  of  anthropomorphism  and  polytheism.  Maimonides, 
the  great  teacher  of  the  twelfth  century,  with  all  his  reverence 
for  authority,  is  perfectly  plain :  Sacrifices  are  a  popular  con- 
cession.^ 

TABLE  OF  SHEWBREAD. 

Even  so  plain  and  positive  are  the  other  leading  parts,  the  holy 
components  of  the  Mishkan,  vastly  differing  from  such  a  possible 
parallel  in  polytheistic  cults.  Let  us  look  to  their  import,  seriatim, 
as  described  in  our  chapter  II  M.,  25,  etc.  As  hinted  at :  Mai- 
monides' Guide  III,  is  very  plain  and  outspoken  concerning  the 
sacrificial  cult.  He  declares  it  to  be  a  remnant  of  prehistoric, 
pagan  habits  and  practices,  in  Mosaism  but  a  compromise,  rather 
tolerated  and  conceded  to,  than  ordained  in  the  monotheistic  cult. 


,niJ3-|pn  y-l  ,nm3yn  p  ]>r2n  ^T:^•  1J-iN'3    Maimonid  Guide    III    46   1 

.^^Dir.-'i;  xt:n  px  ^i^s  nt'yj  xb  dx 

Again  Ibid,  iii,  47,  he  says:  See  the  startling  difference  between 
burning  one's  son  to  an  idol — and  offering  a  pigeon  or  a  handful  of 
flour  in  the  service  of  God.  Maimonides  hereby  plainly  suggests  that 
the  sacrificial  service  of  the  Pentateuch  was  a  mere  compromise.  In 
place  of  human  sacrifices  to  the  idols,  the  people  were  conceded 
animal  sacrifices  to  God. 


TABLE   OF   SHEWBREAD.  285 

just  as  often  declared  by  the  prophets  and  psalmists.  Whilst  this 
greatest  of  mediaeval  teachers  is  rather  reticent  concerning  the 
meaning  of  the  sacred  vessels  of  the  Tabernacle.  At  his  epoch  he 
had  good  reasons  for  his  reserve.  His  plainness  regarding  the 
sacrifices  caused  him  too  much  trouble  and  obloquy,  so  he  says 
(Guide  III)  :  "To  this  day  I  know  not  what  was  the  meaning  of 
the  Golden  Table  with  the  twelve  shewbread."  Present  times  allow 
us  to  explain :  We  read  that  in  the  Babylonian  Merodach  Temple, 
too,  stood  such  a  table  with  as  many  loaves.  But  the  difference 
is  in  the  meaning  and  import  of. that  sacred  piece  of  furniture. 
There  it  meant  the  bread  of  the  god.  Thousands  of  years  pre- 
viously it  meant  the  nourishment  of  the  departed  ancestor,  later 
apotheosized  as  Merodach.  In  the  Mosaic  Mishkan  it  symbol- 
ized, not  God,  but  man  and  his  needs.  It  was  publicly  consumed 
by  the  priests  and  offered  by  the  people,  representing  their  need 
of  divine  assistance  in  the  battle  for  existence. 

So,  I  believe,  the  following  may  be  said  on  that  head :  The 
table  with  the  twelve  shewbread  remembered  the  material  side  of 
man :  man  as  a  bread-eater,  his  needs  as  a  mortal  being.  It  repre- 
sented the  wants  of  the  congregation,  its  petitions  for  bodily  sup- 
port, during  the  twelve  yearly  months,  of  the  twelve  tribes  of  Benai 
Israel;  health,  sustenance,  bread  and  raiment.  Man  consists  not 
solely  of  mind  or  soul,  but  also  of  body,  and  provision  for  the 
body's  sustenance  and  preservation  must  be  made.  Hence  the 
supplications  to  the  Deity,  to  provide  for  the  numerous  earthly 
necessities  of  the  people  and  its  material  prosperity.  The  Taber- 
nacle, the  splendidly  consecrated  residence  of  the  protecting  God- 
head, was,  naturally,  a  place  to  offer  before  the  throne  of  Mercy, 
petitions  for  subsistence  and  daily  supplies,  as  also  to  offer  to  Him 
grateful  thanks  for  benefactions  already  obtained.  The  shew- 
bread, lehem  hapanim,  bread  of  the  Presence,  we  said,  was  to  be 
found  in  the  Babylonian  Merodach  Temple,  and  even  so  denomi- 
nated: Akel  Pani.  There  it  meant  bread  for  the  god  Merodach, 
or  Marduk.  Here  it  symbolized  man  and  his  bodily  needs,  with 
his  petitions  and  thanksgivings  to  Providence  for  the  daily  bread. 
Anciently  bread  was  the  emblem  of  man.  So  also  in  Homer  man 
is  designated  as  hrotos,  bread-eater.^ 


iBrotos,  brute,  Brod,  bread  eating-man  and  animal.  On  Akel  Pani, 
and  lehem  hapanim,  see  A.  H.  Sayce's  Religion  of  the  Babylonians,  p. 
455.  Also,  Zimmerman.  Whether  Akel  pani  be  identical  with  panis, 
bread,  is  improbable.     Why  should  Semites  use  an  Aryan  word? 


THE  CANDELABRUM. 

When  the  bodily  needs  are  provided  for,  as  food,  clothing, 
housing,  what  comes  next?  Mental  needs,  cares  for  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  mind,  the  development  and  training  of  our  nobler  self, 
our  qualifications  and  capacities.  Animal  man  once  satisfied,  ra- 
tional man  steps  in,  asking  for  light,  knowledge,  culture.  Man  is 
born  with  the  rudiments  of  reason,  the  faculties  to  acquire  knowl- 
edge by  experiences  and  meditation.  Without  culture  the  mind 
remains  dwarfish,  rudimentary,  soon  rust  sets  in  and  it  shrinks 
prematurely.  Thus  mentally  crippled,  man  then  moves  and  sneaks 
on  blindly,  groping  his  way  with  his  physical  eyes,  when  missing 
his  mental  ones.  As  open  eyes  in  the  dark  are  useless,  even  so 
is  rudimentary  reason  without  the  torch  of  culture  and  knowl- 
edge. To  contemplate  the  world  lit  and  illumined  by  science  and 
experience,  or  dark  with  ignorance,  is  vastly  different.  To  ob- 
serve and  examine  the  starry  heavens,  the  roaring  ocean-billows, 
the  prairies  teeming  with  animality,  the  meadows  blooming  with 
rich  harvests  and  odoriferous  plants ;  or  to  listen  to  recitations 
from  Euripides,  Schiller  or  Haydn's  compositions,  outfitted  with 
the  understanding  of  poetry  and  harmony,  equipped  with  the  study 
of  astronomy,  geology,  botany,  biology,  etc.,  or  ignorant  of  all 
that — is  radically  different.  The  one  sees,  indeed,  the  infinitude 
of  the  universe  with  all  its  wondrous  grandeur,  harmony,  regu- 
larity, beauty;  the  other  looks  on,  stupidly  and  unconcernedly, 
without  any  clear  understanding  of  what  he  sees.  He  wonders 
rather  why  others  are  enraptured,  while  he  is  callous,  because  ig- 
norance renders  him  blind  and  indifferent.  The  enthusiasm  of 
the  poet,  the  artist,  the  scientist,  he  never  experiences.  The  sailor 
visits  all  the  lakes,  seas  and  continents,  without  noticing  anything 
else  than  good,  cheap  hostelries.  Aristotle,  Galileo  and  Bacon, 
Humboldt  and  Herbert  Spencer  espied  the  laws  of  nature  in 
their  own,  private  study.  Thus  the  culture  of  our  mental  ca- 
pacities is  all-important.  Now  these  higher  elements  of  our  hu- 
manity, ethical  feeling,  reason,  intelligence,  love  of  knowledge,  ap- 
plication, acquisition  of  experiences  and  sciences,  the  aspirations 
of  the  real,  the  higher  man,  that  is  represented  by  the  candelabrum. 
Menorah,  with  its  seven  branches  of  light,  the  "seven  sciences," 
the  ''seven  planets"  of  old  astronomy.    Light  has  been  justly  con- 


THE  CANDELABRUM.  287 

sidered  in  ancient  and  in  modern  times  as  the  most  befitting  em- 
blem of  knowledge  and  science,  because  what  light  is  for  the  body, 
science  is  for  the  mind.  Without  light  the  body  gropes  in  the 
dark  and  is  in  danger  at  any  moment  to  shatter  and  break  down. 
Exactly  the  same  is  knowledge  for  the  mind.  The  mind  without 
experience  and  knowledge  is  practically  not  existing.  Without 
knowledge  man  is  hardly  a  man.  Etimologically  man  means  a 
bodily  creature  endowed  with  reason,  mens.  Intelligence  thus,  is 
properly  the  characteristic  and  essence  of  man,  Man  without 
mind,  mens,  is  a  sword  without  a  blade.  Man  consisting  of  both 
body  and  mind  is  thus  represented  in  the  Tabernacle,  bodily  by 
the  shewbread,  mentally  by  the  chandelier  with  its  seven  branch- 
lamps,  his  diverse  and  manifold  mental  and  moral  capacities,  apti- 
tudes and  possibilities.  He  supplicates  the  Deity  for  the  salvation 
and  support  of  his  body  and  of  his  spirit,  for  material  and  for 
intellectual  food. 

THE  ALTARS. 

After  these  needs  are  suppHed  and  provided  for,  what  are  the 
next  higher  cares  and  aspirations?  They  are  the  wants  of  our 
soul,  our  highest  self,  those  of  our  heart  in  its  noblest  stages.  Our 
highest  self  is  vaguely  designated  by  the  Greek,  thumos;  Latin, 
animus;  Hebrew, leb  ;  German,  Gemueth ;  corresponding  to  English 
vague,  mind,  heart,  soul.  That  is  the  seat  of  our  noblest  feelings, 
sympathies  and  aspirations,  of  our  true  and  essential  humanity. 
The  GemuetJi,  heart,  is  our  highest  and  noblest  self,  the  divine  in 
man.  Animals,  too,  have  ideas  and  sentiments.  Birds  build  their 
nest ;  they  love  and  provide  for  their  young.  The  beaver  erects 
cottages  and  builds  bridges.  The  ants  live  in  society  and  in 
communities.  Ihe  dog  is  true  to  his  master,  even  starving.  But 
none  has  what  the  English  term  heart,  the  German  Gemueth,  the 
Hebrew  leh,  the  Latin  animus,  the  Greek,  perhaps,  thumos.  Ethi- 
cally it  is  wider  than  the  earth,  deeper  than  the  ocean,  sublimer 
than  the  starry  heavens  and  vaster  than  the  universe.  Small  is 
bodily  man ;  vast  is  his  mind,  boundless  is  his  heart.  As  matter,  man 
is  a  brute ;  as  spirit  he  is  above  the  ape ;  as  soul  or  heart  he  is  the 
peer  of  an  angel.  As  an  animal  he  needs  a  little  food,  as  mind  he 
needs  vast  knowledge,  as  soul  he  needs  spirituality,  enthusiasm, 
holiness,  beatitude,  immortality,  messianity,  unison  with  the  Infi- 
nite Godhead.    Desponding  in  his  loneliness,  doubtful  in  his  think- 


288  EXODUS,    MOSES   AND    THE    DECALOGUE. 

ing,  he  is  alone  blessed  in  his  all-consciousness,  as  an  atom  integral 
with  the  starry  heavens.  "Himmlisches  Yauchzen  .  .  .  Zu  Tode 
betruebt.". .  .  Close-by  the  grave,  hoping  for  heaven,  fused  with  the 
universe,  absorbed  by  the  Deity,  Nirvana — that  is  man  as  a  psy- 
che, Gemueth,  thumos,  soul. 

Of  such  an  extra  Gemueth' s  entity,  the  needs  are  higher  than  his 
mental  and  his  intellectual  endowments.  They  are  ethical,  spir- 
itual, ethereal,  divine.  Man's  longing  for  absolute  truth,  full  jus- 
tice, pure  sympathy,  universal  fellowship,  ideal  goodness,  perfec- 
tion— are  of  such  a  nature.  Our  religious  needs,  communion  with 
the  divine,  the  eternal,  such  longings — faith  alone  creates  and 
satisfies,  not  cold  thinking,  reason  and  intellectual  knowledge.  It 
asks  for  intuition,  immediate,  absolute. 

Mark  well  this  vast  distinction  between  our  intellectual  needs 
and  those  of  our  spirituality,  the  heart,  the  Gemueth.  Positive 
knowledge,  mathematical  science  is,  comparatively,  but  of  a  small 
compass.  Our  entire  human  life  is  dominated  rather  by  ideas, 
aspirations  and  cravings,  scientifically  not  proved  and  substantia- 
ted. Our  sense  of  duty,  virtue,  purity,  justice,  generosity,  nobility, 
charity,  altruism,  adherence  to  principle,  abiding  faith,  self-sacri- 
fice, patriotism,  pan-humanity,  spirituality,  religion,  perfection, 
holiness — all  these  highest  of  humane  aspirations,  uplifting  man 
above  the  animal  sphere,  making  up  his  real  distinction,  the  vast 
gap,  the  immeasurable  gulf  between  man  and  brute,  never  to  be 
bridged  over  by  the  evolution  hypothesis,  or  by  educational  devel- 
opment— all  that  can  not  be  proved  by  syllogisms,  and  bears  no 
mathematical  demonstration.  It  is  an  innate  postulate  for  the 
vast  majority  of  people.  All  that  is  within  us,  aparently  born 
with  us,  entailed  from  a  long  line  of  civilized  ancestors  reared 
under  the  same  ethical  ideals,  "organized  impressions,"  to  use  a 
known  Herbert  Spencerian  phrase.  All  that  fills  our  soul,  dictates 
our  course  of  life  and  our  individual  actions,  clings  to  us  during 
all  our  existence.  Still  it  is  not  mathematically  proved,  it  is  ethe- 
real, an  undefinable  postulate,  an  ethical  category,  not  demon- 
strable. We  assume  and  believe  it  by  a  sort  of  intuitive  conviction, 
a  tacit  faith,  a  psychical  instinctive  assent.  Call  it  an  inborn  cate- 
gory, an  organized  inheritance,  a  moral  instinct,  a  mysterious  pre- 
monition, Ahnimg.  We  can  give  no  proof  of  its  absolute  objective 
reality,  still  it  is  subjectively  alive,  it  dictates  our  daily  doings  as 
truism  and  iron  fact. 


THE  ALTARS.  289 

Now,  all  these  feelings  and  ideas  which  we  may  designate  as 
intuitive  perceptions,  belong  to  the  domain  of  faith.  They  are 
innate,  organized  religion.  The  concept  of  religion  subsumes 
them  all.  That  religious  domain  is  not  antagonistic  and  inimical 
to  science  and  logical  thinking.  No,  far  from  that.  That  religious 
domain  is  most  probable.  It  is  a  daily,  silent  experience,  counting 
as  a  certainty  to  the  vast  majority  of  men.  The  average  man  as- 
sumes it  and  assents  to  it  as  a  matter  of  course,  without  asking 
for  any  further  proof.  Therefore  shall  true  religion  never  be  in 
contradiction  to  science  and  logic.  When  Thomas  Aquino  form- 
ulated his  axiom :  "Credo  quia  absurdum  est,"  he  made  religion  a 
poor  compliment.  It  can  never  go  counter  and  override  stern 
logic.  We  can  never  treat  as  a  religious  truth  what  we  positively 
see  to  be  the  opposite  of  logical,  mathematical  truth.  Hence  is 
Thomas  Aquino's  rule  a  fallacy.  But  without  doing  violence  to 
reason  and  clear  consciousness,  we  may  assume  that  religion  often 
reaches  beyond  reason  and  transcends  reason.  Many  ethical  in- 
tuitive assumptions  may  be  true  subjectively,  and  even  objective- 
ly, still  we  are  logically  unable  either  to  prove  or  to  disprove  them. 
Such  are  the  above  enumerated  highest  concepts  and  ideas.  Such 
is  our  faith  in  God,  soul,  truth,  virtue,  wisdom,  that  "honesty  is  the 
best  policy."  To  claim  to  believe  what  I  see  and  know  not  to  be 
true  is  hypocrisy  or  stupidity.  But  to  assume  as  true  what  I  in- 
tuitively see  and  feel  to  be  true,  but  I  can  not  give  the  mathe- 
matical proof  thereof,  nor  is  there  anything  proving  the  contrary, 
that  is  perfectly  admissible,  correct  and  fair;  that  is  humanely 
established  truth;  the  vast  majority  of  rational  mankind  have  been 
acting  on  that  principle,  for,  my  doubts  may  be  erroneous,  my 
reason  may  be  inefficient,  while  stern  facts  are  not.  In  our  con- 
science and  consciousness  we  find  the  obligation  of  rendering  jus- 
tice to  our  next,  truth  above  all,  sympathy  as  an  element  of  hap- 
piness, duty  as  a  category  and  rule  of  conduct,  family  dearer  than 
self,  and  the  God-belief,  with  justice  and  reason  as  supreme  rule, 
towering  above  all,  as  basis,  dome  and  substantiation  of  all.  Still 
all  that  we  can  neither  mathematically  prove  nor  mathematically 
disprove.  But  we  can  show  its  strong  and  salient  probability,  its 
veri-similitude,  and  that  is  sufficient,  that  constitutes  a  moral 
truth.  And  this  is  the  position  of  Mosaism,  of  the  Jewish  moral- 
ists and  of  all  the  ethicists  of  Greece,  Babylon,  Egypt.     It  is  cor- 


290  EXODUS,    MOSES    AND    THE    DECALOGUE, 

corroborated,  too,  by  leading  philosophers  of  old  and  modern 
schools.^ 

Now  this  our  own  spirituality,  the  very  principle  and  essence 
of  man,  as  distinguished  from  the  animal,  the  thymos  or  soul,  in 
the  highest  sense,  aspires,  by  perfection  and  holiness,  by  a  life 
devoted  to  reason  and  truth,  at  the  reunion  with  its  sacred  source, 
the  divine.  The  human  soul  is  a  drop  frorn  that  source,  a  spark 
from  that  world-flame,  just  as  a  molecule  is  an  atom  of  the  ma- 
terial world.  As  the  river  ever  tends  to  the  ocean,  as  the  sun-ray 
emanates  from  and  tends  back  to  the  light-source,  even  such  is 
the  bent  of  the  well-developed  man,  to  rejoin  its  divine  origin. 
And  this  trend  of  the  mind  towards  the  divine,  which  already 
Homer2  experienced:  "All  men  have  a  longing  for  the  gods," 
and  which  Reuchlin  liked  so  well,  this  its  eternal  strivings  upwards 
and  onwards,  for  perfection  and  holiness,  is  beautifully  and  fit- 
tingly symbolized  in  our  Tabernacle  by  the  altar.  On  the  sacri- 
ficial altar,  the  animal  dies,  and  in  the  shape  of  a  burning  cloud, 
ascends  on  high,  decomposed  into  its  original  elements.  On  the 
altar  of  incense  the  precious  spices  burn  up  in  an  odoriferous  fire- 
column,  rise  heavenwards  and  as  an  ethereal  pillar  of  perfume  and 
sweet-smell,  reach  heaven,  a  fit  emblem  of  our  higher  humane 
aspirations,  our  ethical  endeavors,  our  longings  for  perfection, 
holiness,  intellectuality^  divesting  ourselves  of  all  materiality, 
setting  the  soul  free  to  commune  with  its  sacred  source  and  be- 
come one  with  the  Divine;  the  sublime  vision  of  occidental  im- 
mortality and  oriental  Nirvana.  The  altar  illustrates  the  idea  that 
the  animality  in  man  becomes  eliminated,  dies  in  self-sacrifice, 
and  the  purely  spiritual  elements,  mind  in  the  highest  sense,  soars 
up  and  merges  into  its  ineffable  fountain-head,^  the  Deity. 

Thus,  the  table  of  shewbread  represents  man  as  a  body,  the 
candelabrum  represents  man  as  an  intelligence,  and  the  altar 
represents  man  as  a  spiritual,  religious  being.  Taken  into  careful 
consideration  old  Eastern  symbolism  and  speculation,  times  and 
environments,  these  emblems  well  answer  their  purpose.  To  the 
Oriental  the  language  was  suggestive  and  plain. 


iPythagoras,  Socrates,  Plato,  Kant's  Practical  Reason,  Descarte's 
Philosophy,  Herbert  Spencer's  Ethics,  Principles. 

20dysee  III,  48.     Pantes  de  Theon  chateoussi  onthropos. 

3See  Maimonides'  Guide,  III,  54. 

4Akin  to  that  is  the  Brahmanic,  not  Buddhistic  Nirvana.  The  three- 
fold soul  was  taught  in  Egypt  as  Ka,  Kuh,  Ba;  and  in  Hebrew  litera- 
ture as  K'D3  nOK'J  mi  See  Maspero  on  that  and  A.  H.  Sayce's  Religion 
of  Babylon  and  Egypt,  p.  60. 


291 

THE  HOLY  ARK. 

Are  our  bodily  needs  provided  for,  is  our  reason  cultivated  and 
instructed,  is  our  soul  spiritualized,  imbued  with  great  ethical 
aspirations,  continually  and  unswervingly  directed  towards  the 
Divine,  then  communion  with  Him  will  surely  follow.  The  Deity 
will  impart  to  us  His  revelations.  Our  spiritual  cravings  and 
efforts  will  attain  at  the  higher,  yea,  the  divine  truths. ^  The 
Godhead  will  impart  to  us  doctrines  and  teachings  leading  to 
man's  highest  salvation.  These  future  revelations,  this  unison  of 
the  divine  with  the  humane,  is  represented  by  the  Holy  Ark,  Aron 
haqodesh,  containing  the  Two  Tables  with  the  Mosaic  organic 
law,  the  ethico-social  contract,  the  Covenant  of  the  Ten  Words, 
the  doctrine  which  man  apprehends  as  the  eternal,  moral,  mental 
and  social  verities,  as  the  nucleus  of  divine  principles  underlying 
our  ethical  state ;  not  simply  as  expedients  of  sickly,  pale,  human 
ingenuity,  contrived  by  political  economists;  not  as  cunningly 
devised  checks  and  weights  upon  daring  selfishness ;  not  as  tram- 
mels imposed  by  the  mentally  stronger  minority  to  intimidate  the 
weak  majority ,2  but  as  innate  social  categories,  as  eternal  prin- 
ciples of  the  just,  the  true,  the  wise  and  the  equitable ;  as  ethical 
rules  of  conduct,  prescribed  by  Eternal  Wisdom  for  human  bet- 
terment, peace  and  sanctification.  The  Holy  Ark  is  the  focus 
where  the  human  mind  meets  with  the  divine  Mind  and  both 
come  in  touch.  As  when  the  positive  and  the  negative  poles  of 
electricity,  coming  in  contact,  burst  forth  in  flaming  reverbera- 
tions, even  so  the  Ark  with  the  Testimony  was  the  focus  where 
the  prophetic  soul  soaring  upwards  reached  the  World-Soul,  and 
under  peals  of  Sinaic  thunder  and  lightning  emitted  the  electrical 
spark  of  the  great  Decalogue  doctrine ;  a  nucleus  of  leading  ax- 
ioms that  grandly  and  everlastingly  influence  man  and  connect 
him  firmly  and  indissolubly  with  the  Supreme  Mind,  leading  him 
onwards  to  ever  greater  self-improvement  and  ever  higher  planes 
of  civilization  and  perfection. 


iThe  Rabbis  say:  The  righteous  dwell  (in  Paradise)  crown  on  head 
and  enjoy  of  the  beauty  of  the  Shekina.  This  sensuous  trope  Maimon- 
ides,  Yad,  Mada,  expounds:  They  reach  the  utmost  limits  of  the  truth. 
Guide  III  states  this  as  the  object  of  the  sage  on  earth.  Such  is  the 
Hindoo  Rishi,  intellectually  the  highest. 

2Schiller's  Resignation:  "Des  kranken  Weltplans  schlau  erdachte 
Retter. .  .den  Menschenwitz  der  Menschen  Nothdurft  leihet." 


292 


KAPPORETH  AND  CHERUBIM. 


The  Holy  Ark  was  covered  with  a  Hd,  Kapporeth,  "Cover  of 
Atonement,"  a  golden  ceiling  over  that  chest,  to  the  right  and  the 
left  side  of  which  stood  mystic  figures  termed  cherub,  cherubim 
in  plural,  two  such  cherubs  stood  on  the  lid,  human  figures  in 
youthful  beauty  and  innocence,  with  uplifted  wings,  spreading  out 
high  and  wide  over  the  ceiling,  on  a  level,  as  if  flying,  the  two 
pairs  of  wings  forming  thus  a  kind  of  sacred  canopy  to  the  ark 
and  its  golden  covering  beneath.  Perhaps  the  wings  rather  repre- 
sented the  mercy-seat  whereupon  the  divine  Majesty  was  moving, 
as  Zeus  on  eagles'  wings.  The  scriptural  terms  are  :(n  M.,  25,  23) 
"I  shall  meet  thee  there  and  speak  to  thee,  from  above  the  Kap- 
poreth, between  the  two  cherubs  above  the  Ark  of  the  Testimony, 
whatever  I  shall  bid  thee  for  the  Benai  Israel."  This  would  con- 
vey that  the  lid  of  the  ark  was  the  seat,  and  the  cherubim  with 
their  wings  outspread,  formed  the  canopy.  So  in  Isaiah  vi,  2  :  ''The 
Deity  was  sitting  on  a  high  throne,  with  seraphim  (not  cherubim) 
hovering  on  each  side,  with  outstretched  wings;  while  Ezekiel's 
seat  of  revelation  is  more  elaborate :  four  Hajoth  with  straight 
feet  and  outstretched  wings,  with  fourfold  faces,  the  eagle 
conspicuous,  but  one  spirit  moving  spontaneously  in  the  four 
Hajoth.  Upon  their  heads  rested  a  kind  of  platform,  the  out- 
stretched wings  beneath  the  platform ;  above  the  heads  and  wings 
appeared  like  a  sapphire  throne  and  above  this  a  similarity  of  a 
vision  of  a  man,  and  I  saw  like  the  color  of  hashmal,  as  a  fire- 
blaze  round  about  it.  .  .as  the  colors  of  the  rainbow  on  a  rainy 
day.  .  .Such  was  the  halo  round  about  it;  such  the  vision  of  the 
semblance  of  the  glory  of  Ihvh.  And  I  fell  on  my  face"(Ezekiel  I.) 
Here  the  divine  Mercy-seat  seems  to  rest  upon  the  out- 
stretched wings,  above  the  heads  of  the  four  living  creatures  the 
Hajoth,  the  vehicle  of  the  divine  revelation.  So  we  read  in  the 
Davidian  hymn  (II  Sam.  xxii,  11)  :  "He  rode  on  the  cherub,  flew 
and  revealed  Himself  on  the  wings  of  the  storm."  So  also  Ps.  18, 
11. — We  said  the  lid  was  denominated  Kapporeth,  from  the  Hebrew 
kapor,  to  cover,  atone,  forgive;  the  mercy-seat,  wherefrom  the 
Deity  was  ideally  assumed  to  grant  pardon  and  oblivion  of  sins, 
to  vouchsafe  revelations  and  deliver  behests  to  the  faithful.  That 
was  the  most  solemn  moment  of    the  atonement-day  when    the 


KAPPORETH  AND  CHERUBIM.  293 

higfh-priest  entered  the  Holy  of  Holies,  with  the  pan  of  fire-in- 
cense in  hands,  stepped  before  the  ark,  sprinkled  a  few  drops  of 
blood  towards  the  curtain  of  the  ark,  pronounced  a  prayer  and 
was  presumed  to  obtain  forgiveness  of  sins  from  that  very  mercy- 
seat  for  Israel  and  its  priesthood. 

In  the  chest  of  the  Ark,  beneath  the  lid,  was  placed  the  law, 
termed  Ediith,  the  Testimony.  Whether  this  comprised  but  the 
two  tables  of  stone,  or  the  scroll  with  the  Ten  Words,  or  many 
more  scrolls  of  the  Pentateuch,  the  opinions  dififer.  Other  reliques 
of  national  import,  too,  were  preserved  there,  as  hinted  at  above. 
So  we  read :  "I  shall  meet  thee  there,  and  speak  to  thee  from  above 
the  Kapporeth,  between  the  two  cherubim  above  the  Ark  of  the 
Testimony,  all  whatsoever  I  shall  impart  of  my  behests  to  Israel." 
(II  M.,  35,  23). 

We  have  hinted  at  some  analogies  with  our  theme  in  Babylonia. 
In  the  area  of  the  Temple  of  Bel-Merodach,  the  highest  deity  in 
Babylon,  stood  an  imposing  structure,  a  three  hundred  feet  high 
square-tower,  termed  Ziggurat.^  It  had  seven  floors  or  stages 
(seven  heavens  and  seven  planets).  The  seventh  stage  corre- 
sponded to  the  Holy  of  Holies,  it  contained  no  image  whatever, 
but  it  did  contain  a  golden  table  with  shewbread,  and  a  golden 
couch  from  which  the  deity  was  presumed  to  deliver  its  oracles  to 
a  prophetess  who,  alone,  was  admitted  to  that  exalted  place. 
There,  too,  one  finds  other  formal  similarities  with  that  of  the 
Temple  of  Herod  especially.  But  spiritually  the  two  sanctuaries 
were  as  distant  as  monotheism  is  from  polytheism. 

"I  shall  impart  to  thee  there  all  I  may  ordain  to  Israel"  again 
has  another,  most  significant,  bearing.  It  implies  the  important 
verity  that  the  Sinaic  revelation  was  and  is  not  the  final  one 
vouchsafed  to  Israel ;  that  God  has  not  spoken  the  last  word  in 
that  Eduth,  or  Testimony,  deposited  within  the  ark;  that  the 
Deity  will  never  cease  his  revelations  of  further  truths  to  human 
intelligence ;  that  betterment,  progress,  is  solemnly  promised  and 
confirmed  as  infinite.  We  emphasize  this  verse.  It  states  that  the 
spiritual  communion  between  God  and  man  will  ever  be  enter- 
tained in  the  Holy  Ark,  in  conscience  and  reason ;  that  many 
new  revelations  were  and  are  in  store,  reserved  for  aspiring  hu- 


lA.  H.  Sayce's  Religion  of  Babylon,  p.  454.  Ziggurat  claimed  to  be 
the  foundation  stone  of  the  world.  It  corresponded  to  the  Eben 
Shethia  of  the  Herodian  Temple,  mentioned  above. 


J94  EXODUS,    MOSES    AND    THE    DECALOGUE. 

inanity,  and  that  God  has  never  stopped  his  inspirations  to  those 
who  seek  them  sincerely.  The  Mercy-seat  between  the  two  cheru- 
bim was  the  august  place  reserved  in  the  Tabernacle  for  such  new, 
ever  continuing  teachings ;  and  this  Mercy-seat  is  not  destroyed 
with  the  Moriah  Temple  by  Titus  and  his  army,  but  ever  subsists 
and  emits  its  divine  inspiration  in  the  human  mind. 

FORM  OF  THE  CHERUBIM. 

The  form  of  the  cherubim  on  the  ark  is  differently  described  by 
sacred  and  profane  writers.  Antiquarians  believe  they  repre- 
sented angels,  genii  of  the  divine,  winged,  young  male  figures, 
the  body  prone,  inclined  forwards,  looking  toward  each  other 
and  downwards,  the  wings  fully  spread  out,  tending  upwards. 
All  four  wings  on  a  level ;  the  figure  witnessing  thus  of  a  double 
nature,  human  and  angelic,  with  feet  and  wings.  Standing  on  the 
lid  and  soaring  heavenwards,  again  symbolized,  yea,  depicted, 
man's  double  nature ;  his  material  eye  b^^nt  earthwards,  and  his 
psychical  eye,  his  ethereal,  winged  mind,  directed  towards  the 
spiritual  realm ;  ever  he  stands  on  the  dust  of  the  ground  and 
aspires  to  the  light  of  the  skies ;  he  grasps  for  the  earthly  bounties 
and  longs  for  heavenly  harvests;  he  anxiously  treasures  up  the 
acquisitions  of  the  past  and  constantly  drifts  and  aspires  to  new 
discoveries  and  further  revelations ;  conservative  to  obstinacy,  ever 
looking  to  his  ancestry,  still  dashing  headlong  to  new  experi- 
ments, higher  developments  and  humane  improvements. 

Such  new  revelations  bind  man  ever  more  to  the  realms  of  the 
eternal  and  the  divine ;  he  becomes  ever  more  ethical,  spiritual, 
and  his  perfectibility  is  infinite ;  he  may  yet  discover  the  higher 
laws  of  health  and  life ;  yea,  extend  human  life  to  centuries ;  with- 
out pain  and  sickness ;  he  may  yet  travel  through  the  airy  spaces 
from  New  York  to  Berlin  during  one  night.  Will  he  also  dis- 
cover the  panacea  against  folly  and  vice  ?    Theoretically  he  may ! 

THE  MISHKAN  AND  ITS  OUTFIT. 

Thus  the  ancient  Tabernacle  represented  the  idea  of  ever  ad- 
vancing humanity,  from  the  past  to  the  future,  ever  onwards; 
both  conservative  and  progressive ;  treasuring  up  the  experiences 
of  the  past  and  using  them  as  the  bridge  for  new  efforts,  new  ac- 


THE    MISHKAN    AND    ITS    OUTFIT.  295 

quisitions,  ever  thus  remaining  in  touch  with  the  Divine,  ever  de- 
veloping with  the  universe;  men,  universe  and  the  divine — one 
unfolding  stream.  And  the  tabernacle  was  its  miniature  picture, 
a  plastic  popular  illustration  of  the  grand  world-panorama,  and  its 
motto  was  our  verse :  "They  shall  build  Me  a  sanctuary  that  I 
dwell  among  them." 

No  doubt,  we  hear  frequently  enough:  "Wherefore  a  temple? 
We  need  dwelling,  school,  court  and  pleasure-houses,  that  an- 
swers to  some  definite  human  purpose.  But  wherefore  prayer- 
houses?  Poor  reasoning!  We  have  above  discussed  it  and  say 
here  but  in  short :  We  are  animal  and  reason ;  but  we  are  even 
more :  Soul,  Gemiieth,  thymos;  and  that,  too,  has  its  needs.  It 
needs  a  house  of  worship,  an  opportunity  for  the  cultivation  of 
our  highest  endowments  and  capacities,  the  real  laboratory  of 
civilization,  the  propelling  force,  the  locomotive  and  steam  of  our 
humanhood.  What  is  the  cause  that  we  so  often  hear  complaints 
made  about  the  lack  of  the  nobler  virtues,  the  higher  learning, 
veneration  for  parents  and  superiors?  What  is  the  cause  that 
"marriage  is  a  failure,"  higher  education  deemed  waste  of  time? 
Wherefore  complaints  about  moral  decrepitude,  about  intellectual 
mediocrity,  contempt  of  everything,  except — an  independent  for- 
tune? What  is  the  cause  that  the  young  often  desolate  the  par- 
ental heart?  That  no  less  often  the  parent  sets  to  the  young  such 
a  poor  example  ?  The  cause  is :  Neglect  of  true  worship,  of 
sincere  prayer.  We  have  enough  of  lip-service,  of  cold  pomp  and 
mechanical  ceremonies;  not  enough  of  heart-prayer,  of  true  self- 
examination,  of  insight  into  our  heart,  of  the  culture  of  our  nobler 
self.  These  need  the  temple.  Of  these  the  house  of  worship  is 
the  proper  sphere,  the  opportunity  where  we  rid  ourselves  of  our 
coarser  materialistic  alloy  and  aspire  towards  the  true  and  the 
good.  The  table  with  the  shewbread  as  yet  represents  man  with 
his  bodily  needs,  for  Mosaism  is  not  a  religion  of  ascetism  ;  it 
aims  not  at  the  monastery;  nor  at  the  grave  as  did  Egypt.  It 
rather  puts  forward  this  actual,  earthly  world,  as  the  scope  of  its 
legislation:  "Observe  my  statutes  and  judgments,  which  man 
shall  perform  and  live  by  them."  (Ill  M.,  18,  5)  This  pregnant 
verse  the  Talmud  correctly  emphasizes:  Live,  not  die  by  them.^ 
The  Thora  is  for  the  preservation,  not  the  deterioration  of  man, 


nnn  mo':^'  N^i...Dn3  -ni 


396  EXODUS,    MOSES   AND    THE    DECALOGUE. 

the  world  is  to  be  built  up.^  But  at  the  same  time  the  law  aspires 
at  rendering  the  earth  heavenly,  not  a  sea  of  misery  and  vice,  but 
of  wisdom  and  happiness ;  to  edify,  refine,  sanctify  and  improve 
man. 

We  sum  up.  The  sacred  candelabrum,  as  in  the  synagogue, 
now,  the  continual  lamp — Ner  Tamid — remembers  man's  intel- 
lectuality, reason,  knowledge,  all-sided  development,  as  the  aim 
of  life,  symbolized  by  its  seven  branches,  its  sevenfold  light.  The 
altar  represents  his  moral  conscience  at  one  with  reason,  faith 
and  reason  in  harmony,  our  religious  aspirations  and  our  mental 
strivings  reconciled.  The  ark  with  the  testimony  is  emblematic  of 
revelation,  man  ever  in  communion  with  the  Intellectus  Activus, 
inspired  by  Him  whenever  sincerely  desired,  the  union  of  the 
human  soul  with  the  divine  Mind.  The  Kapporeth  or  Mercy- 
seat  with  the  cherubim,  is  the  promise  of  eternal  revelations,  sym- 
bolizing the  ever-continuing  communion  of  the  Divine  with  the 
striving,  aspiring  spirit  of  man,  man's  capacity  of  infinite  develop- 
ment, of  bodily,  mental  and  ethical  perfection.  And  all  this  is 
finely  expressed  by  our  leading  theme :  "They  shall  make  Me  a 
sanctuary,  that  I  dwell  among  them."  In  the  prayer-house  man 
is  a  spiritual  being  and  the  Shekina  rests  in  his  bosom. 

EXODUS  AND  ITS  TRILOGY. 

In  the  preceding  pages  we  have  discussed  the  several  sections 
and  chapters  of  the  II  Book  of  Moses,  then  discussed  and  ana- 
lyzed their  leading  themes  and  subjects  bearing  upon  its  doctrines, 
laws  and  worship.  We  have  first  seen  the  history  of  the  issue 
of  the  Benai-Israel  from  Egypt ;  next  the  Decalogue,  the  Revela- 
tion from  the  Sinaic  period  and  its  successive  unfoldings,  an  out- 
line of  a  Code;  finally  the  construction  of  the  Mishkan,  Israel's 
oldest  house  of  worship.  These  leading  topics  with  many  minor 
ones,  occupy  the  entire  Second  Book  of  Moses.  We  have  espe- 
cially considered  the  three  middling  sections,  or  pericopes  of  that 
Book,  II  M.,  19 — 25,  denominated :  Jethro,  Mishpatim,  Teruma,^ 
and  devoted  to  these  subjects.  These  three  sections  forming  a  sort 
of  Trilogy,  treat,  in  some  sense,  of  the  soul,  the  body,  with  the 


Is.  45—18   mv'    n2K'^   1 
sjudgments,  heaves,  Jethro  was  Mosis'  father-in-law. 


EXODUS    AND    ITS    TRILOGY.  297 

limbs  and  the  external  frame  of  the  Mosaic  structure.  The  peri- 
cope  Jethro,  closing  the  history  of  the  Exodus,  enlarges  upon  the 
advent  of  the  Sinaic  period,  with  its  memorable  era-making  reve- 
lation of  the  Ten  Commandments,  the  Great  Charter  of  Israel  and 
of  mankind,  the  basis  and  substantiation  of  all  manhood,  human 
dignity,  right  and  duty.  It  is  the  distinctive  line  and  differentia- 
tion between  man  and  brute,  the  epitome  of  man's  spirituality,  as 
a  being  knowing  duty,  freedom,  God.  It  is  his  eternal  Bill  of 
Rights  against  all  sorts  of  usurpations,  dynastic,  hierarchic,  social. 
The  Decalogue  epoch  divides  human  history  in  two  halves,  before 
and  after  it.    It  is  leading  in  Mosaism. 

The  sacred  books  of  ancient  Egypt,  Babylonia^  and  Khanaan  may 
have  contained  many  faint  premonitions  of  it,  or  may  have  been  but 
an  echo  from  the  Mosaic  Code,  for,  in  spite  of  big-mouthed  claims, 
it  is  far  from  being  squarely  ascertained  which  of  them  has  th^ 
safe  priority.  The  unity  of  the  Godhead,  his  spirituality,  a  weekly 
rest-day,  reverence  for  parents,  truthfulness,  honest  dealings,  sa- 
credness  of  matrimony,  of  life,  of  property,  etc.,  are  moral  cate- 
gories of  eternal  reason.  Hence  some  heathen  priests  and  philos- 
ophers could  and  may  have  had  and  even  uttered  some  faint  ideas 
about  such  rules  of  conduct.  Indeed,  the  hieroglyphic  and  cunei- 
form records  of  the  old  world  really  and  daily  bring  to  light  such 
evidences,  and  this  corroborates  the  Sinaic  doctrines.  But  no- 
where do  we  find  that  they  were  the  practice  and  the  fundamental 
principles  of  any  people  and  state.  We  find  them  scattered  and 
far  between,  in  mouldering  Babylonian  or  Egyptian  libraries  and 
rituals,  intermingled  with  mean  superstitions  and  petty  practices, 
as  mere  priestly  craft,  reveries  or  philosophical  desiderata.  Is- 
rael is  the  people  and  Mosaism  is  the  realistic  Code,  where  these 
norms  are  laid  down  as  principles,  as  primary  rules  of  conduct,  as 
socio-ethical  conditio  sine  quae  non,  as  the  corner-stone  under- 
lying the  very  foundations  of  human  society.  That  is  the  dis- 
tinctive mark  of  Israel :  "Ye  shall  be  unto  Me  a  kingdom  of 
priests  and  holy  nation."  (II  M.,  xix,  6).  That  was  the  lullaby 
at  his  cradle,  the  motto  of  his  existence,  his  banner  for  now 
thirty-five  centuries  as  a  world-embracing  faith. 

The  next  scriptural  portion,  Mishpatim,  II  M.,  xxi,  25,  is  the 
necessary  sequel,  the  logical  result,  development  and  complement 
of  the  great  Mosaic  organic  law,  the  Ten  Words.     Mishpatim  is 


1  Religion  of  Babylon  by  Maspero,  Book  of  the  Dead. 


298  EXODUS,    MOSES    AND    THE    DECALOGUE. 

the  code  of  law,  an  outline  of  principles  to  decide  between  right 
and  wrong,  mine  and  thine,  to  maintain  order  and  justice  in  a 
young  community,  to  decide  causes  private  and  public,  civil,  po- 
litical, penal,  industrial,  agrarian.  Finally  we  have  analyzed 
Teruma,  the  place,  arrangements  and  ideas  underlying  the  insti- 
tution of  the  Tabernacle ;  Israel's  model  sanctuary,  his  first  shrine 
of  national  worship  and  instruction,  where  his  great  doctrine,  his 
gradually  developed  laws  and  the  entire  polity  of  early  Mosaism 
and  later  Judaism  were  to  be  preserved,  unfolded,  studied  and 
inculcated. 

SURVEY  OF  THE  VOLUME  AND  CONCLUSION. 

At  the  conclusion  of  this  study,  let  us  have  a  cursory  retrospect 
and  survey  the  chief  features  of  the  different  themes  which 
have  engrossed  our  attention.  Section,  Jethro,  exhibits  to  us,  in 
first  instance,  the  Decalogue.  What  are  its  leading  traits?  They 
are  as  follows :  God  is  the  basis  of  the  universe,  the  state  and 
man.  God  is  the  source  of  all,  mind  and  matter,  spirit,  force  and 
body ;  life  and  all  existence ;  wisdom,  truth,  right,  duty,  freedom, 
will  and  conscience.  God  is  not  identical  with,  or  absorbed  by 
the  universe.  He  is  not  its  law,  in  the  abstract,  nor  merely  its 
moral  order.  He  is  the  origin  and  the  creator  of  all ;  spontaneous, 
omniscient,  omnipotent,  and  all-benign.  He  is  pure  spirituality, 
eternity,  omnipresence ;  alone  the  Providence  of  the  universe,  of 
mankind,  of  Israel. 

The  Sabbath  is  instituted  for  bodily  rest,  moral,  mental,  social, 
spiritual  uplifting  of  man,  vindicating  to  him  the  right,  duty,  time 
and  possibility  to  recuperate,  strengthen  and  cultivate  himself;  to 
strive  after  truth,  wisdom  and  happiness,  thus  to  develop  and 
transform  his  native  animality  into  rational  humanity,  the  off- 
spring of  the  ape  into  the  son  of  God. 

The  world  is  pervaded,  spiritualized  and  upheld  by  the 
divine  presence,  and  man  is  vindicated  as  a  moral,  rational  and 
spiritual  being;  the  universe  is  declared  not  to  be  a  self-moving 
machine,  a  huge  automatic  clockwork,  and  man  is  uplifted  from  the 
rest  of  the  animal  realm  and  declared  to  be  a  rational,  ethical, 
free  and  responsible  agent;  the  Decalogue  sanctifies  all  existence 
and  permeates  all  man's  feelings,  acts  and  entire  life  by  the  faith  in 
and  the  Providence  of  God,  and  with  the  ideas  of  justice  and 


SURVEY  OF  THE  VOLUME  AND  CONCLUSION.  299 

duty,  equity,  purity  and  holiness.  It  consecrates  the  relations  of 
husband  and  wife,  of  parent  and  child,  of  citizen  and  common- 
wealth, of  pure  habits,  desires  and  affections,  of  work  and  prop- 
erty, of  truthfulness  and  purity  of  feelings  and  thoughts,  en- 
nobling and  translucidating  all  with  the  new  truly  Mosaic  axioms 
of  duty  and  responsibility,  of  obligation  ever  corresponding  to 
right,  the  two  ever  going  together  in  civilized  society. 

By  this  is  not  claimed,  I  emphasize  again  and  again,  that  Mo- 
saism  is  the  inventor  of  these  social  categories  and  should  take 
out  a  patent  of  proprietory  right  upon  such  and  similar  tenets. 
No !  The  Decalogue  is  not  an  invention,  nor  even  a  sudden  dis- 
covery. But  it  is  the  slow  and  gradual  result  of  long  and  deep 
observation,  meditation  and  experiences,  gathered  for  thousands 
of  years,  and  finally  reduced  to  and  promulgated  as  an  organic 
social  code  during  the  great,  creative  and  constructive  period  of 
Sinai. ^ 

We  emphasize  and  repeat  that  it  is  not  an  invention  by  any  one 
single  man,  but  the  solemn  confirmation  and  bv  divine  authority, 
of  the  universal  basis  of  civilized  society,  re-echoed,  reverberated 
and  sanctioned  at  the  start  of  Israel's  national  existence.  The 
Decalogue  is  a  category  of  eternal  reason,  benevolence  and  equity, 
repeated  and  promulgated  by  the  Mosaic  lawgiver  as  the  funda- 
mental law  of  Israel's  society,  state  and  church.  And  since  it  is 
the  eternal  norm  of  divine  reason,  therefore  we  find  it  pervading, 
at  least  vaguely  and  in  general  outline,  also  in  the  sacred  books  of 
Egypt  and  Babylonia ;  of  Zoroaster,  Manu  and  Buddha,  of  Pythag- 
oras and  Lao-Tze,  of  Plato  and  Confucius.  The  Ten-Words-code 
is  not  a  plagiarism  upon  Babylonian  inscriptions,  or  the  Egyptian 
Book  of  the  Dead,  or  any  other  cuneiform,  hieroglyphic,  etc.,htera- 
ture,  but  it  emanated  from  the  One  Supreme  Sacred  Source  of  all 
law  and  reason.  And  this  makes  the  Sinaic  revelation  even  more  im- 
portant, since  it  is  not  a  novelty,  but  the  outcome  and  result,  the 
world-aspect,  Welt-Anschauung,  the  seal  and  confirmation  of  the 
universal  law  of  reason  and  morality,  promulgated  as  the  rudi- 
mentary, organic  law  of  the  newly  constituted  Hebraic  nation. 

All  the  rays  of  light,  truth  and  holiness  which  had  irradiated 
in  prehistoric  times  from  all  the  sages  and  civilizations  of  the 


iThe  Scattered  nioral  precepts  in  Babylonian  and  Egyptian  litera- 
tures never  rose  so  high.  First  of  all,  the  Pentateuch  postulated  duty  and 
responsibility  as  absolute  norms.  Alone  the  Decalogue  bids:  Thou 
Shalt! 


300  EXODUS,    MOSES   AND   THE    DECALOGUE. 

ancient  world,  were  selected,  gathered  and  purified,  sifted  and 
distilled,  harmonized  and  crystalized  in  the  revelation  during  the 
Sinaic  epoch.  Scattered  elements  thereof  one  may  find  in  the  lit- 
erature of  China,  Egypt  and  Babylon,  Persia,  India,  Rome.  Greece 
and  Phoenicia.  But  to  select,  gather,  sift  and  combine  all  that 
into  one  harmonious  whole,  in  a  succinct,  small  compass,  as  one 
organic  code,  accessible  to  and  comprehensible  by  the  people,  re- 
tainable in  the  memory  of  the  humblest  and  give  it  that  solemnity, 
publicity,  authenticity,  as  the  supreme  national  code  and  doctrine, 
binding  upon  all  for  all  times  and  places — that  is  the  import  of  the 
Sinaic  Decalogue,  and  that  is  the  merit  of  Israel. 

THE  CIVIL  CODE.    PERSONAL  FREEDOM. 

After  the  doctrines  contained  in  the  pericope,  Jcthro,  comes  the 
Civil  Code,  Mishpatini.  What  are  its  leading  principles?  They 
are  shortly  these:  Liberty,  a  Hebrew  can  and  shall  never  be  en- 
slaved ;  he  may  alienate  and  hire  out  his  work,  for  six  years,  in  the 
seventh  he  must  go  free.  He  can  hire  out  his  person  or  his  labor, 
but  he  can  not  sell  himself,  nor  can  any  one  buv  him  as  a  piece 
of  goods,  or  chattel.   (II  M.,  xxi,  1-5.) 

The  less  can  a  Hebrew  woman  be  sold  and  made  any  one's 
property.  When  a  minor,  poor  and  sold  by  her  father,  her  master, 
or  his  son,  are  in  fairness  presumed  to  marry  her;  then  she  must 
be  treated  by  them  as  any  other  marriageable  girl.  If  that  tacit 
condition,  that  a  priori  expectation  be  not  fulfilled,  then  she  shall 
go  free,  the  master  has  lost  her  purchase  money.  (II  M.,  xxi, 
7-12.) 

FREEDOM  OF  THE  SOIL. 

This  absolute  liberty  of  man  and  woman  is  solidly  based  upon 
another  Mosaic  freedom,  quite  unique  in  ancient  history,  to  which 
no  other  lawgiver,  priest  or  philosopher  ever  gave  utterance. 
Even  the  noblest  and  best  thinkers  of  old,  acknowledged  the  legiti- 
macy of  force,  the  right  of  the  stronger  to  domineer,  and  the 
duty — not  alone  the  prudence — of  the  weaker  to  yield  and  obey. 
Neither  the  wise,  good  and  ideal  Socrates  and  Plato,  nor  the  more 
realistic  Aristotle  demurred  from  that  iron  axiom :  Ultima  ratio, 
vis.  The  world  and  its  fullness,  the  soil,  man  and  his  work,  all  be- 
long to  the  victor.  Mosaism  alone  states  otherwise.   (II  M.,  ix,  29.) 


FREEDOM    OF    THE    SOIL  301 

"Thou  shalt  know  that  to  Ihvh  belongs  the  earth — (II  M., 
xix,  5.)  To  Me  appertains  all  the  land.— (Ill  M.,  xxv,  23.)  The 
ground  shall  not  be  sold  for  ever,  for  Mine  is  the  earth,  ye  are 
but  my  settlers  and  tenants." — Hence  come  the  year  of  release 
and  the  Jubilee ;  the  right  of  redemption  of  the  family  farm ;  the 
prohibition  to  make  profit  or  interest  on  money,  goods  and  fruit 
of  the  soil,  the  veto  against  enslaving  a  fellow  citizen ;  of  abusing, 
misusing,  vexing  or  over-working  him.  Hence  the  reservation 
of  parts  of  the  crops  for  the  poor,  the  stranger,  the  Levite,  the 
widow,  the  orphan,  etc.  The  Pentateuch  alone  states  and  declares, 
plainly  and  boldly,  not  afraid  of  being  ostracized  as  a  socialist, 
that  to  God  belongs  the  soil,  that  the  ground  is  merely  let  out  to 
the  people,  to  be  distributed  in  equal  shares  among  all  the  male 
citizens,  so  as  to  constitute  a  hereditary,  inalienable  and  perpetual 
family  acre,  which  shall  be  cultivated  and  rendered  productive  by 
its  temporary  holder  or  farmer,  to  be  left  intact  to  his  children 
and  children's  children.  Such  a  life-tenant  could  pawn  or  sell  or 
forfeit  by  law  the  crops  of  his  tenancy  for  six  years,  no  longer. 
On  the  seventh  year,  the  alienated  family-field  became  free  and 
returned  to  its  legitimate  previous  proprietor,  its  first  occupant. 
Thus  land,  farm,  man,  woman,  work  were  declared  free  and  in- 
alienable, none  born  a  pauper,  none  a  lord;  a  mian  for  every 
woman,  work  for  every  working  man,  all  are  free  and  equal ;  no 
means  to  buy  up  votes,  and  no  want  to  induce  self-asservation. 
Free  men,  free  vv^omen,  free  soil ;  servants  and  property  they  were 
of  God  alone !  No  human  enslavement  and  no  landgrabbing  or 
accaparation  were  tolerated.  No  plutocracy  with  monopolies  and 
despotism  on  one  hand,  and  no  pauperism,  meanness  and  self- 
surrender  on  the  other  hand.  A  free  state,  with  a  free  soil,  free 
labor  for  a  free  society  of  free  and  equal  citizens. 

This  bold  doctrine  of  free  soil,  the  land  belonging  alone  to  its 
Maker,  God,  that  man  owns  only  what  he  has  produced,  whilst 
the  ground  is  but  usurped,  never  made  by  man,  we  find  also  in 
the  Talmud,  overlooked  by  the  commentators,  or  from  timidity 
passed  in  silence  during  baronial  times.  It  is  in  the  Babyl.  Sanhe- 
drin  (58  b.)  legitimately  deduced  from  a  pregnant  biblical  verse: 
"The  strong  holds  the  ground  and  the  privileged  one  occupies  it." 
(Job.  xxii,  9.)    This  R.  Eleaser  correctly  expounds  :  "The  ground 


302  EXODUS,    MOSES    AND    THE    DECALOGUE. 

is  given  away  only  to  the  man  of  strong  arms."^  Only  the  rob- 
bers first  laid  claim  to  the  soil.  J.  J.  Rousseau  opined  the  same : 
"The  strong  made  an  enclosure,  saying  this  ground  is  mine."  The 
Psalm,  xii,  11:  Who  (diligently)  works  on  his  soil,  will  have 
plenty  of  bread  to  eat,  R.  Lakish  interprets :  He  who  slavelike 
works  (hard  on)  the  soil,  will  satiate  himself  with  bread;  if  not, 
not.2  The  Pentateuch  repeatedly  threatens  Israel  with  the  loss 
of  his  country,  if  he  is  disobedient  to  Ckid,  if  he  is  not  resting 
during  the  year  of  release,  or  if  not  freeing  the  Hebrew  servant 
after  six  years,  or  if  serving  strange  gods ;  viz. :  God  is  considered 
as  the  liege  lord  of  the  community  and  the  country,  whose  lands 
he  has  bestowed  upon  his  vassal-people,  on  condition  that  they 
recognize  him  as  supreme  king,  devoutly  serve  him  as  such 
and  respect  the  freedom  of  their  fellow-citizens.  Now,  as  a  re- 
bellious vassal  forfeits  his  freehold,  even  so  Israel,  when  re- 
bellious to  the  commandments  of  his  King.  So,  too,  the  prophet 
Jeremiah  (xxxiv,  10)  denounced  the  Judaean  nobles  for  not  re- 
leasing their  Hebrew  slaves,  threatening  them  with  the  loss  of 
their  country,  their  lives  and  their  own  liberty  in  just  retribution. 
Thus  we  find  the  freedom  of  land,  of  work,  of  man  and  of  woman 
as  one  set  of  correlated  principles  in  Mosaism. 

THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  EQUALITY. 

After  the  doctrines  on  the  freedom  of  the  soil,  men  and  work, 
comes  the  other  principle,  equality.  Every  man  being  the  son 
and  servant  of  God,  is  a  free  citizen,  and  every  citizen  is  the 
equal  of  his  fellow-man,  he  is  exactly  as  much  worth  as  his  neigh- 
bor, in  rights  and  in  duties,  in  emoluments  and  in  obligations ; 
there  are  to  be  no  classes  and  no  masses,  no  aristocracy,  plebeians 
or  pariahs  ;  the  state  is  a  democracy,  governed  by  the  elders,  selected 
by  universal  suffrage,  and  all  are  equally  to  obey  the  law,  viz. : 
The  will  of  God,  interpreted  and  executed  by  the  elders.  There 
is,  indeed,  besides  the  laity,  a  priesthood,  of  the  tribe  of  Levi,  but 
they  were  far  from  being  an  aristocracy.  They  had  nothing  in 
common  with  the  Brahmanic,  Magian  or  Druidic  castes.     It  is  but 


■•bya^  x:5X  i?p-i|t>  nanj  n*>  -na  y^"  n^^B  x^t;oi  ,Y'-\iin  i^  ynr  K'-'n*     i 

Says  R.  Eleaser  nWiT 

ah  ah  DN...Dnb  WK'^  nnys  lovy  ^:^•y  ds  - 

In  Hebrew  the  same  root  means  to  work  and  to  serve. 


EQUALITY.  303 

later  that  they  obtained  some  sacerdotal  privileges,  after  their 
connection  with  and  partisanship  for  the  Davidian  dynasty.  For 
long  they  were  rather  counted  with  the  poor,  the  widows  and 
orphans,  later  they  were  endowed  with  but  scant  territories,  scat- 
tered throughout  all  the  twelve  clans.  As  such  they  are  depicted 
in  the  blessing  of  Jacob  (I  M.,  xlix,  7.)  Their  ascendancy  and 
privileges  began  with  the  Davidian  dynasty,  having  sided  with  it 
during  its  troubles  with  the  house  of  Saul.  With  the  destruction 
of  the  kingdom  of  Judaea,  and  the  collapse  of  the  Davidians,  the 
Ahronides  assumed  a  princely  importance,  during  the  entire  sec- 
ond Jewish  commonwealth.  Withall  pure,  original  Mosaism  was 
a  democracy,  royalty  was  an  innovation  ;  almost  a  rebellion  against 
God  (I  Sam.,  8.) 

The  principle  of  the  equality  of  all  the  citizens  before  the  law 
is  forcibly  illustrated  by  the  legal  formula  pervading  the  entire 
Mosaic  code  :  "Eye  for  eye,  tooth  for  tooth,  etc."  (II  M.,  xxi,  24.) 
The  code  Mishpatim,  as  the  entire  Pentateuch,  frequently  recurs  to 
it.  The  rigid  axiom  is  talion,  retaliation,  in  nature ;  not  by  com- 
pensation in  money  or  any  sort  of  compromise.  The  rabbinical 
code  changed  the  talion  axiom  into  compensation,  still  "eye  for 
eye  and  tooth  for  tooth"  is  the  ideal  formula  of  equality,  the  un- 
compromising rule  of  democracy..  .  .Indeed,  if  one  man  is  as  good 
as  his  neighbor,  then  one  man's  eye  or  tooth  is  as  good  as  his 
neighbor's  eye  or  tooth.  Whilst  if  you  substitute  a  money  com- 
pensation and  with  different  ratings,  then  equality  and  democracy 
are  destroyed.  The  Christian  founder,  a  moralist  and  idealist, 
aiming  at  establishing  the  Messianic  empire,  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  on  earth,  despising  the  world,  work,  property,  going-to- 
law,  he,  member  of  a  society  of  monastics  (Essenians),  on  a  com- 
munistic pattern,  a  Philanstcre,  preached  :  "Whosoever  takes  away 
thy  coat,  let  him  have  thy  cloak  too.  Who  smites  thee  on  thy 
right  cheek,  offer  him  thy  left  one.  Resist  not  evil."  (Math.  V, 
xxxviii,  41;  Luke  vi,  29.)  The  world  is  not  worth  while  wran- 
gling for .  . .  But  pray,  fast  and  hasten  on  the  advent  of  the  king- 
dom of  heaven.  .  .That  was  his  ideal  object  for  his  ideal  world, 
not  for  the  real  one.  But  with  such  bases,  views  and  assump- 
tions, you  will  never  build  up  a  human  society,  a  live-state.  And, 
indeed,  it  has  been  truthfully  remarked  by  Jean  Jacques  Rous- 
seau and  other  clear-sighted  writers  that  there  has  never  been 
reared  up  a  truly  Christian  state  in  the  world — except,  perhaps. 


304  EXODUS,    MOSES   AND    THE    DECALOGUE. 

the  monastery,  or  theoretically,  the  Catholic  church — if  there  all 
ambition  and  politics  were  left  out.  Even  America,  apparently  a 
democracy,  does  not  stand  on  Christian  ethics  as  formulated  by  the 
founder.  Strict  right  and  talion  alone  are  the  principles  of  human 
society,  that  alone  guarantees  equality.  The  strong  ones  steal 
coat  and  cloak,  smite  on  the  right  and  left  cheek.  Society  must  be 
shielded  by  talion,  or  anarchy  will  ensue. 

FRATERNITY  AND  SOLIDARITY. 

The  next  principle  of  Mishpatim  is  sympathy,  humanity,  fellow- 
ship, social  solidarity,  the  duty  each  citizen  has  towards  the  com- 
munity, his  neighbor.  Correctly  reasoning,  he  has  an  interest, 
and  hence  a  duty  to  help  render  him  happy,  as  much  as  in  his 
power.  The  fact  is  that,  really,  human  happiness  is  inter-depend- 
ent, solidary.  And  moreover,  when  one  social  member  is  wronged, 
made  wretched,  entire  society  is  a  party  to  the  wrong,  willfully  or 
not,  by  commission  or  omission ;  hence  it  is  responsible  and  must 
redress  it,  or  it  will  at  last  suffer  for  it.  Thus  the  misfortune  of 
each  man,  each  a  social  member,  falls  back  on  the  entire  society. 
Therefore  must  all  society  help  alleviate  the  misfortunes  of  each 
member.  Sympathy,  charity,  altruistic  helpfulness  are  therefore 
viewed  in  the  Mishpatim  code,  not  as  alms-giving,  but  as  a  duty 
of  the  rich  towards  the  poor,  as  the  rich  man's  duty  and  the 
poor's  right.  1  It  is  the  poor  man's  minimum  right,  it  is  the  least 
which  can  be  done  for  him .  . .  God  gave  the  land  and  its  harvests 
to  the  community  on  condition  that  part  of  those  bounties  go  to 
the  poor,  the  uneducated,  the  ostracised. 

How  much  superior  this  political  economy  is  to  other  views 
and  codices,  we  have  considered  in  our  "Biblical  Legislation."  It  is 
superior  because  it  fathoms  the  bottom  and  ventilates  the  cause 
of  the  evil.  The  Mosaic  sym.pathy  and  humanity  is  not  degrading, 
wretched  almsgiving.  It  is  constructed  upon  the  solid  rock  of 
fellowship  and  humane  solidarity,  upon  common  sense  and  altru- 
ism. It  is  not  sentimental  charity,  not  dictated  by  mere  pity,  less  so 
by  ostentation;  but  as  an  act  of  private  justice,  and  redress  for 
public  wrong,  each  single  social  member  magnanimously  offering 
atonement  and  restitution  for  corporate  social  injustice  committed. 

iJoseph  Chamberlain  once  said  that  charity  is  the  ransom  of  the 
rich  from  the  poor.    That  is  poor  charity  and  poor  political  economy. 


FRATERNITY  AND  SOLIDARITY  305 

On  the  other  hand,  true  beneficence  is  prompted  by  consummate 
prudence,  by  intelligent  self-interest,  a  deed  with  the  rational  mo- 
tive that  my  neighbor's  well-being  or  wretchedness  strongly  re- 
flect upon  myself,  that  without  recurring  to  communism,  the 
state  is  one  integral,  industrial,  economical,  ethical  and  political 
body ;  that  altruism  is  at  one  with  wise  egoism ;  that  my  own  true 
interests,  in  the  long  run,  are  my  neighbor's  true  interests ;  that 
altruism  and  egoism,  both  wisely  and  harmoniously  combined, 
cover  and  supplement  each  other.  This  is  the  political  economy, 
the  social  philosophy  of  the  Mosaic  Humanity,  of  the  laws  of  the 
pericope  Mishpatim  and  of  the  entire  Pentateuch.  That  is  closely 
elaborated  in  many  Talmudical  treatises,  it  passed  to  other  legis- 
lations as  charity  laws,  gradually  enlightening  political  econo- 
mists and  philanthropists. 

Once  m.ore,  let  us  not  make  any  comparisons  between  that  and 
the  communistic  socio-ethical  teachings  of  the  New  Testament. 
The  aim  and  scope  of  the  Old  and  of  the  New  Testaments  are  dif- 
ferent, hence  also  their  means,  their  sociology.  Mosaism  aimed  at 
founding  a  state,  establishing  a  people,  with  earthly  citizens,  with 
whom  work,  property,  marriage,  family,  right  and  self  are  funda- 
mental. The  founders  of  Christianity  despised  the  actual  world, 
hated  the  entire  Roman  and  the  upper  Judaean  society,  despaired 
of  and  aimed  at  their  subversion  and  improving  men  into  saints, 
angels  fit  for  their  hoped  for  "kingdom  of  heaven,"  the  general 
Utopia  of  the  dreamers  and  schemers,  Jew  and  Gentile,  of  that 
age  of  Roman  supremacy,  violence  and  visible  decomposition. 
The  Essenio-Christian  scheme  was  the  antidote  of  the  universal 
corruption.  The  "kingdom,  of  heaven"  was  their  salto  mortale  and 
poverty  their  supreme  virtue.  Another  was  the  scope  of  the  Old 
Testament.  Moses  gave  laws  for  men,  for  a  live-state,  with  citi- 
zens struggling  for  existence,  striving  for  happiness,  in  this  pos- 
sible, realistic  world,  even  under  the  rule  of  the  Herodians  and 
Caesars.  Christianity  preached  ideals  for  a  m.onastery  with 
Essenians  and  angels. 

The  later  leaders  of  the  church,  the  Constantines,  the  Patricians 
and  the  hierarchs,  indeed,  talked  of  the  ideal  humanity  of  the  pre- 
vious Messianic  ages  and  doctrines,  but  really  acted  upon  the 
polity  of  the  Caesars  and  Borgias.  Hence  Mosaism  teaches  (HI 
M.,  xix,  19)  :  "Thou  shalt  not  hate  thy  brother  in  secret.  Thou 
shalt  neither  bear  a  grudge  on  him,  nor  shalt  thou  be  revengeful." 


3o6  EXODUS,    MOSES    AND    THE    DECALOGUE. 

Expostulate  thy  cause  with  him,  frankly  insist  upon  being  righted 
if  thou  feelest  wronged.  Christianity  recommends :  Offer  the  left 
cheek  to  him  who  smites  thee  on  the  right  one,  etc.  The  first 
teaches  to  pardon  and  condone,  the  latter  ordaineth:  Love  thy 
enemy.  (Luke  vi,  27.)  All  these  discrepancies  are  easily  ex- 
plained when  we  consider  the  realistic  scope  of  the  Sinaic  law  and 
the  ideal  scheme  of  the  builders  of  the  heavenly  kingdom.  The 
Mosaic  doctrine  aims  at  a  reality ;  the  Messianic  one  at  a  Utopia. 

Thus  these  far-reaching  schemes  of  human  brotherhood,  social 
equality,  political  liberty  and  universal  solidarity,  at  least  within 
the  limits  of  the  Hebraic  nationality,  are  decidedly  biblical.  They 
are  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  code  of  Mishpatim.  They 
are  the  necessary  and  logical  developments  of  the  Ten  Command- 
ments. They  are  not  the  product  of  later  times  and  peoples,  not 
of  free  and  ever-militant  Greece,  not  of  selfish,  entangling,  bloody 
Rome,  not  of  the  barbarous  Teutons,  not  even  of  free  Switzerland 
or  Holland,  not  of  the  American  and  French  revolutions.  No,  they 
are  essentially  Mosaic.  They  sprang  from  the  sociological  and  ethi- 
cal genius  of  the  Hebraic  ethnos  and  psyche ;  they  grew  upon  the 
tree  of  the  Pentateuch.  While  modern  freedom  with  Lessing,  Rous- 
seau and  Mirabeau,  with  the  Amercian  and  French  revolutioniz- 
ing human  fraternity  ideas,  while  even  the  nineteenth  century's 
regenerating  views  of  Lasalle,  Virchow,  Bamberger — are  the  late 
fruit  gradually  culled  and  gathered  from  that  venerable  millenial 
Biblical  tree,  whose  roots  and  ramifications  reach  back  to  Sinai. 

The  third  of  our  Trilogy  is  the  pericope  or  section  termed 
Teruma(II  M.  xxv,  etc.),  treating  of  the  erection  of  the  Mishkan, 
Tabernacle,  a  sacred  tent  claimed  as  corresponding  to  the  pro- 
portions of  the  universe.  Its  three  principal  parts,  Court,  Holy 
Place  and  Holy  of  Holies  answer  to  the  ancient  division  of  heaven, 
earth  and  sea.  Whilst  from  another  standpoint,  that  illustrates  in 
solid  matter,  the  ideas  of :  Mind  pervading  the  universe,  creation 
by  God,  spirituality  of  man,  sanctified  by  the  Sabbath,  sacredness 
of  human  affairs,  as  life,  marriage,  parenthood,  property,  purity, 
veracity.  And  all  this  underlies  and  substantiates  human  free- 
dom, equality  and  dignity,  without  which  man  is  a  brute.  These 
ideas  the  Tabernacle  represents  in  its  materials  and  sacred  furni- 
ture, a  court,  a  sanctuary  and  a  Holy  of  Holies.  Next,  the  golden 
table  with  the  twelve  shewbread,  represents  man  and  his  bodily 
needs ;  the  candelabrum  means  light  and  reason ;  the  altar,  our 


FRATERNITY  AND  SOLIDARITY  307 

longing  for  the  divine;  the  Ark,  revelation  realized;  the  Mercy- 
seat  and  Cherubim :  revelations  to  come,  future  inspirations,  infinite 
progressiveness,  perfectibility,  the  eternal  connection  of  the  hu- 
man mind  with  its  sacred  Source,  the  Intellectus  Activus,  the  Su- 
preme Mind. 

And  this  is  the  sense  of  our  theme :  "They  shall  make  Me  a 
sanctuary,  that  I  dwell  among  them."  Indeed,  a  place  containing 
doctrine,  law  and  worship  is  the  sanctuary  where  the  Deity  dwells. 
A  sumptuous  structure  without  these  three  is  a  palace,  not  a  sanc- 
tuary, to  which  our  verse  cannot  apply.  A  proud  hall,  with  costly, 
sumptuous  furniture,  a  magnificent  dome,  elegant  music  and  fine 
oratory — but  without  doctrine,  faith  and  truth-seeking,  is  a  palace, 
a  temple  of  Mammon,  vainglory  and  hypocrisy,  our  theme  has 
nothing  in  common  with  such  a  show. 

The  temple  discussed  in  these  pages,  once  a  modest  tent  or  tab- 
ernacle, has  been  the  seed  and  pioneer  of  millions  of  houses  of 
worship, aspiring  to  the  very  same  objects  :  doctrine,  worship, truth- 
seeking,  improvement.  It  developed  into  the  magnificent  temples  of 
Solomon,  Ezra-Nehemia,  the  Maccabeans  and  Herod.  It  was  the 
seed  of  thousands  of  synagogues  in  the  dispersion.  It  expanded  into 
the  millions  of  churches  and  mosques,  all  over  the  entire  terres- 
trial globe.  Originally  it  was  a  transferable  portative  tent,  later 
a  magnificent  structure  on  Mount  Moriah.  It  wandered  then  with 
the  Israelites,  the  Judaeans  and  finally  the  Jews  of  the  dispersion. 
But  it  grew  ever  vaster  and  more  important.  The  Christian 
Church  and  the  Mohammedan  Mosque  took  Israel's  sanctuary  as 
their  model  for  myriads  of  sacred  structures  over  the  entire  habit- 
able globe.  Its  worship  was  first  administered  by  a  few  descendants 
of  Ahron,  Kohanim,  kinsman  of  Moses.  Then  this  priesthood  of 
the  Ahronidae  passed  in  the  diaspora,  actually  to  all  Israel.  Soon 
it  gained  over  the  Occident  as  Christians,  and  the  Orient  as  Mos- 
lems. It  refreshes  the  souls  of  the  most  civilized  portions  of  man- 
kind of  all  the  continents  and  the  islands  of  the  earth.  Every- 
where, essentially  teaching,  with  various  local  colorings  and  dra- 
peries, the  same  doctrine  of  the  Decalogue :  The  one  Divine  Mind, 
the  one  human  nature  and  interest,  the  one  code  of  rights  and 
duties,  as  in  our  Trilogy,  the  civilizing  import  of  worship :  Man 
in  communion  with  the  Divine. 


3o8  EXODUS,    MOSES    AND    THE    DECALOGUE. 

We  have  concluded  our  survey  of  the  leading  aspects  of  the 
Ten  Commandments,  in  conjunction  with  our  two  preceding  vol- 
umes, on  the  civil,  political  and  agrarian  Laws,  and  on  the  Human- 
ity and  Benevolence  ones  of  the  Pentateuch.  We  have  admired 
their  divine,  uncommon,  common-sense;  their  justice  tempered 
with  mercy ;  befitting  all  times,  peoples  and  countries ;  containing 
the  elements  of  the  world-religion,  for  all  mankind ;  incomparably 
superior  to  all  the  antique  legislations,  and  in  many  regards  not 
reached  even  by  present  codices  which  are  yet  brimful  with  in- 
justices and  inequalities  on  account  of  creedal,  national,  class  and 
country  prejudices. 

Now,  Reader,  ponder!  Can  Israel,  shall  he,  nevertheless,  yield 
to  millennial  misunderstandings,  give  up  that  Pentateuchal  code, 
these  prophetico-Mosaic  doctrines  and  pass  over  to  the  Major- 
ity?..  .Or  shall  not  rather  the  Majority  consider  their  own  best 
interests,  give  honor  to  the  truth  and  accept  the  doctrines  of  the 
Minority?  Would  it  not  be  time,  after  those  barren  discussions 
of  fifteen  long  centuries  about  Three  and  One,  to  lend  ear  and 
heart  to  the  call  of  truth,  reason,  common  sense  and  universal 
peace,  to  the  identical  call  of  the  antique  prophets,  the  apostles 
and  the  modern  sages,  scientists  and  philanthropists,  all  advo- 
cating the  Mosaico-prophetic  platform,  containing  the  elements  of 
civilized  man's  religion?  .  .  .  That  call  was  uttered  by  (Isaiah,  II, 
2)  :  "It  will  come  to  pass  in  the  far  future,  when  the  great  na- 
tions will  proclaim,  let  us  rise  to  the  Mount  of  Ihvh,  that  He 
may  teach  us  in  His  ways  and  we  follow  in  His  paths  ...  for  from 
Zion  Cometh  the  doctrine  and  the  Word  of  God  from  Jerusalem. .  . 
that  he  be  our  Arbiter  and  we  do  away  with  sword,  strife  and 
controversy." — Mankind  has  learned  the  prophetico-Mosaic  les- 
sons during  these  last  two  thousand  years.  Would  it  not  be  time 
to  act  upon  them  ?    Reader,  pause  and  consider  ! .  .  .    ■ 


ERRATA. 


Page  Read  Instead  of 

12 — Middle. . . .  dominant  one — the  Pliaraoh. .  dominat  one.    The  Phiiraoh. 

17 — Below flock  of  Israel!     And  in  that.. flock  of  Israel,  and  in  that 

18 —     "      dispelling  despondency scattering  despondencj' 

23—      "      My  Spirit.  (Sacharia) .My  Spirit  (Sashana) 

39 — Above pauperization,  dearth pauperization,  death 

53  &  55 — Above. Hague  arbitration.. Biblical  Teachings 

87— Middle Charta  Magna Charter-Magna 

95 — Below. of  sacrifice  and  altruism of  sacrifice,  austerity 

110— Middle Keep  my  Sabbaths; Keep  my  Sat)bath. 

110 — Below of  the  prohibition of  prohibition 

134 — Above .'All-presence  of  Deity all-presence  of  Diety. 

139— Below with  the  Hindu with  the  Minda 

140 —     "      Philosophy,  Qabbala Philosophy  Gabbala 

148— Middle Apotheosis  of  the Apothesis  of  the 

149 — Below in  preference  -to in  preferment  to 

154 — Above a  recognized  tenet a  recognzed 

156 — Middle solidly  emphasize stolidly  emphasize 

158 —      "      But  it  is  written 1  But  is  written 

164— Above 39  stripes 30  stripes 

174— Middle by  the  Shemites by  the  Shomits 

174 — Middle enfranchising  mankind enfranchising  mankind." 

179 —     "      manual  and  field manual  field 

193 — Below minor  legalistic legislatic 

201 —      "      neglectful  and  disrespectful . .  forgetful  and . . . 

203 — Middle their  labors,  efforts labors,  results 

208 — Below and  auto-da-fe's auto  dafes 

214 — Above avenges  wronged  innocence,  .avenges  innocence 

215— Middle classes  and  privileges classes  and  masses 

226 —     "      one  of  spirituality one  of  spiritually 

236 —      "      world  and  polytheism world  and  poytheism 

238—      "      in  the  Capitol in  the  Capital 

244 —      "      but  were  reputed were  reported 

253 — Middle Disraeli,  Jessel? Disraeli,  Jessel. 

253—      "      Milhamoth  Ihvh Milhamoth,   Ihvh 

260 — Below appreciating  their  labors his  labors 

266— Middle to  the  Deity to  the  Diety 

270— Below...    nnin  ;nD  min  no 


BS1245.8.F64 

Exodus,  Moses  and  the  Decalogue 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1   1012  00012  2566 


J 


DUE 


GAYLORO 


